Re W. P. Doyle, A Bankrupt

JurisdictionIreland
Judgment Date06 November 1906
Date06 November 1906
CourtCourt of Appeal (Ireland)
In re W. P. Doyle, A Bankrupt (1).

Appeal.

CASES

DETERMINED BY

THE KING'S BENCH DIVISION

OF

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND,

AND ON APPEAL THEREFROM IN

THE COURT OF APPEAL,

AND BY

THE COURT FOR CROWN CASES RESERVED.

1906.

Bankruptcy — After-acquired property — Intervention of the assignees — Son of evicted tenant — Farm purchased for, by Estates Commissioners — Irish Land Act, 1903, ss. 2, 54.

Held (affirming the decision of Boyd, J.), that the assignees were entitled to sell the lands for the benefit of the creditors.

John Doyle, the father of the bankrupt, was tenant of a farm at Gurteen, Coolgreany, in the county of Wexford, which he held from Sir G. Brooks, at £90 9s. 8d. rent; and he was evicted from his holding in the year 1887. By reason of that fact, the bankrupt, William Doyle, who was a tea-dealer, residing at Carrick-on-Suir, applied to the Estates Commissioners for a farm, and in 1905 the Estates Commissioners allotted to him a farm of land at Deanstown, near Swords, in the county of Dublin, containing 51a. 3r. 39p. statute measure. The entire purchase-money for the farm, viz. £1,600, and £250 for buildings, was advanced to the bankrupt by the Estates Commissioners, and the yearly instalment payable to the said Commissioners, on foot of the advance, was £52. The lands were vested in the bankrupt by

a fiat of the Estates Commissioners, dated the 11th May, 1905, and on the 18th November, 1905, he was registered as the owner in fee-simple in the Local Registration of Title Office.

On the 25th January, 1906, the bankrupt put up the lands for sale by auction, and they were sold to Robert G. Smyth for £400. In investigating the title, the solicitor for the purchaser discovered that the vendor had been adjudicated bankrupt on the 31st January, 1898, and that he had never got a certificate of conformity.

The assignees in bankruptcy intervened, and claimed the interest in the lands for the creditors; and they entered into an agreement, dated the 19th May, 1906, with the said R. G. Smyth to sell to him the interest for £400. On the 18th June the assignees applied to the Court of Bankruptcy to confirm the sale.

Boyd, J., on the 10th July, gave judgment, and confirmed the agreement. The bankrupt appealed.

Ignatius J. O'Brien, K.C., for the appellant:—

The interest in lands does not vest in the assignees under section 268 of the Bankruptcy Act, 1857, unless they elect to take: Hanway v. Taylor (1); the effect of this decision was extended in Somers v. M'Donnell (2) to leases for lives. All dealings of a bankrupt, after his bankruptcy, with any person dealing with him bonâ fide, and for valuable consideration, in respect of his after-acquired property, are valid against the assignees: Re Ball (3); that rule applies to leaseholds: Re Clayton and Barclays Contract (4); New Land Development Association v. Gray (5).

Again, the words of sect. 268 of the Bankruptcy Act of 1857 do not apply to this case. The words “as he shall purchase” do not apply to advances made by the State for the benefit of evicted tenants or their sons. The object of sect. 2 of the Land Act was the re-instatement of evicted tenants, and statutory provisions of this sort did not exist in 1857. In this case the

bankrupt had no previous interest in the tenancy at all, and the case is not within the vesting section.

Secondly: assuming that the interest vested in the assignees, the Land Act of 1903 has provided the machinery by which the interest is to be sold. By sect. 54, sub-sect. l(b), the Land Commission may cause the holding to be sold, and by the proviso at the end of sub-sect. 1 of sect. 54 the Land Commission may nominate a person to take the holding. The Land Commission has jurisdiction to deal with the case otherwise than in bankruptcy.

Ronan, K.C., and Robert Doyle, for the assignees:—

It is settled law, with respect to after-acquired property of a bankrupt, that the bankrupt may hold it unless the assignees intervene. The authorities were all referred...

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2 cases
  • Re Richard Hazleton, A Bankrupt
    • Ireland
    • Court of Appeal (Ireland)
    • 21 April 1915
    ...B. D. 301. (7) 12 T. L. R. 133. (8) 8 Morr. 59. (9) [1894] 1 Q. B. 425. (1) 21 Ch. D. 85. (2) [1910] 1 Ch. 814. (3) 4 A. & E. 286. (4) [1906] 2 I. R. 538. (1) [1902] A. C. (2) 4 H. L. C. 128. (3) [1894] A. C., at p. 554. (4) 7 Ex. at p. 560. (5) 13 A. C. at p. 358. (6) [1892] 1 Q. B. 522. (......
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