C.O.
20409
434
14 JUN OF
COPY
HONG KONG BANKRUPTCY LAW AMENDING ORDINANCE OPINION
The observations which I have to offer upon the Hong Kong Bankruptcy Law Amending Ordinance, and the state of the law which it was passed to alter are as follows:-
1.
The present position of the Bankruptcy law in relation to a foreigner who in his own name, or a firm name, trades in this country by means of a fully authorised manager is most unsatisfactory.
This can be seen by contrasting the decision in Cook v. C.A. Vogeler Co. with the decision in re Clark (1898) 1 Q.B. 20.
In the latter case the debtor was a Chilean who had traded at Buenos Aires and Valparaiso, but not in England and resided at Boulogne.
He incurred debts abroad, and amongst others a debt to a German firm on a bill of exchange payable in London. He was served with a writ while temporarily in England and judgment was obtained.
After the judgment had been obtained a bankruptcy notice on the judgment was served on the Debtor while he was at a hotel in London temporarily for one night. By not complying with the notice he was held to have committed an act of bankruptcy. Later on, when the Debtor was again temporarily in England, he was served with a judgment summons under the Debtors' Act and on the hearing of the Summons a Receiving Order was made under Section 103 of the Bankruptcy Act, which Order the Court of Appeal upheld.