CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924 — Page 156

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chattels are; within the respective time following and not after- wards (namely) :—

(1) Within fourteen days after its execution, where it is executed in the Consular district wherein the chattels are;

(2) Within two months after its execution, where it is exe- cuted in China elsewhere than in that Consular district, or in Hong Kong;

(3) Within six months after its execution, where it is exe- cuted elsewhere than in China or Hong Kong. 173. Registration is made as follows:-The original and a copy of the bill of sale, and an affidavit verifying the execution, and the time and place of execution, and the attestation thereof, and verifying the copy, are brought into the proper office of the Court or the Consulate; and the copy and affidavit are left there.

174. If a bill of sale is not registered at a place and within the time by this Order appointed and allowed for registration thereof, it is, from and after the expiration of that time, void in China to the extent following but not further (that is to say)

ཡ—

(1) As against trustees or assignees of the estate of the grantor, in or under bankruptcy, liquidation, or assign- ment for the benefit of creditors; and

(2) As against all sheriffs and others seizing chattels under process of any Court, and any person on whose behalf the seizure is made; but only

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(3) As regards the property in, or right to, the possession of such chattels comprised in the bill as, at or after the filing of the petition for bankruptcy or liquidation, or the execution of the assignment, or the seizure, are in the grantor's possession, or apparent possession.

175. Registered bills of sale affecting the same chattels have as among themselves priority in order of registration.

176. Chattels comprised in a registered bill of sale are not in the possession, order, or disposition of the grantor within the law of bankruptcy.

177. If in any case there is an unregistered bill of sale, and within or on the expiration of the time by this Order allowed for registration thereof a subsequent bill of sale is granted affecting the same or some of the same chattels, for the same or part of the same debt, then the subsequent bill is, to the extent to which it comprises the same chattels and is for the same debt, absolutely void, unless the Court is satisfied that the subsequent bill is granted in good faith for the purpose of correcting some material error in the prior bill, and not for the purpose of unlawfully evading the operation of this Order.

178. The registration of a bill of sale must be renewed once at least every five years.

179. Renewal of registration is made as follows:—An affidavit stating the date of and parties to the bill of sale, and the date of the original registration, and of the last renewal, and that the bill

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is still a subsisting security, is brought in to the proper office of the Court or the Consulate of original registration, and is left there.

180. If the registration of a bill of sale is not so renewed in any period of five years, then on and from the expiration of that period the bill is deemed to be unregistered.

181. The provisions of this Order relating to renewal apply to bills of sale registered under the Orders in Council repealed by this Order.

182. A transfer or assignment of a registered bill of sale need not be registered; and renewal of registration is not necessary by reason only of such a transfer or assignment.

183. Where the time for registration or renewal of registration of a bill of sale expires on a Sunday, or other day on which the office for registration is closed, the registration or renewal is valid if made on the first subsequent day on which the office is

open.

184. If in any case the Court is satisfied that failure to register or to renew the registration of a bill of sale in due time, or any omission or misstatement connected with registration or renewal, was accidental or inadvertent, the Court may, if it thinks fit, order the failure, omission, or misstatement to be rectified in such manner and on such terms, if any, respecting security, notice by advertisement or otherwise, or any other matter, as the Court thinks fit.

185. The provisions of this Order apply to a bill of sale executed before the commencement of this Order.

188. The power conferred on the Judge of the Supreme Court by this Order of framing Rules from time to time extends to the framing of Rules for prescribing and regulating the making and keeping of indexes, and of a general index, to the registers of bills of sale, and searches in those indexes, and other particulars con- nected with the making, keeping, and using of those registers and indexes, and for authorizing and regulating the unregistering of any bill of sale, or the registering of any release or satisfaction in respect thereof.

PART VII.-COMPANIES.

187.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Order, the jurisdic- tion of the Court in respect of all British Companies carrying on business in China shall be exercised, so far as circumstances admit, in conformity with the provisions of the Companies Ordinances; except that Section 16 of the Companies Amendment Ordinance, 1913, shall not apply in China.

(2) Where reference is made or inferred in any Section of the Companies Ordinances to any other Ordinance of the Colony of Hong Kong which does not apply within the limits of this Order, such Section shall be read as though the corresponding law or enactment applicable in England were referred to therein.

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