176
Prisoner's estate
and effects, except wearing apparel, &c, not exceeding £20, and future estate, to be vested in provisional assignee by order of the Court.
ORDINANCE No. 3 of 1846.
Insolvent Debtors.
cases, it shall be lawful for any such creditor or creditors, or person or persons entitled to such money as aforesaid, to apply by petition in a summary way to the said Supreme Court for an order vesting the real and personal estate and effects of such prisoner in the provisional assignee for the time being of the estate and effects of insolvent debtors in the Colony of Hongkong, according to the provisions of this Ordinance; and such petition shall be signed by the party or parties so applying; and in such petition shall be stated the time and place of the commitment or charge in execution of such prisoner at the suit of the party or parties so applying, and the amount of the debt or sum of money for which such prisoner shall have been so committed or charged in execution; and such petition shall be supported by such evidence, by affidavit or otherwise, of the truth of the matters therein stated, as the said Court shall think fit to require; and the party or parties presenting such petition shall thereby state that he or they is or are desirous that such prisoner should be ordered to file a schedule of his property according to the provisions of this Ordinance, and should thereupon be brought up before the said Supreme Court to be dealt with according to the provisions of this Ordinance; and such petition, and the evidence in support thereof, shall forthwith be filed in the said Court; and the said Court shall and may require such prisoner to file his schedule, and shall and may cause such prisoner to be brought up to be dealt with according to this Ordinance, and all things to be done thereupon or preparatory thereto as in other cases according to this Ordinance.
3. And be it enacted and ordained, that upon the filing of such petition by such prisoner, or on the filing of such petition by such creditor or creditors as aforesaid, and the evidence in support thereof, as the case may be, it shall be lawful for the said Supreme Court, and such Court is hereby authorized and required, to order that all the real and personal estate and effects of such prisoner within this Colony, except the wearing apparel, bedding, and other such necessaries of such person and his family, and the working tools and implements of such prisoner, not exceeding in the whole the value of twenty pounds, and all the future estate, right, title, interest, and trust of such prisoner in or to any real and personal estate and effects within this Colony, or which such prisoner may purchase, or which may revert, descend, be devised or bequeathed, or come to him, before he shall become entitled to his final discharge in pursuance of this Ordinance, according to the adjudication made in that behalf; or in case such prisoner shall obtain his full discharge from custody without any adjudication being made by the said Court, then before such prisoner shall be so fully discharged from custody; and all debts due or growing due to such prisoner, or to be due to him or her before such discharge as aforesaid, shall be vested in the provisional assignee for the time being of the estates and effects of insolvent debtors in the said Colony of Hongkong; and such order shall be entered of record in the same Court, and such notice thereof shall be published as the said Court shall direct; and such order when so made shall, without any conveyance or assignment, vest all the real and personal estate and effects of such prisoner, and all such future real and personal estate and effects as aforesaid, of every nature and kind whatsoever, and all such debts as aforesaid,