BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY. 251 
familiar. The words describe in their known legal sense 
provisions made by law for the administration of the estates 
of persons who may become bankrupt or insolvent according 
to rules and definitions prescribed by law, including of course 
the conditions in which that law is to be brought into 
operation, the manner in which it is to be brought into 
operation and the effect of its operation.” Hence an Act 
of the Dominion providing for the liquidation of building 
societies in the province of Quebec only was held wltra vires. 
A provision that claims by and against assignees in 
insolvency may be disposed of by a County Court Judge on 
petition is within the jurisdiction of the Dominion Govern- 
ment?®, and the clause in the Insolvent Act of 1875 which 
enacted that a person who purchased goods on credit knowing 
himself unable to meet his engagements and concealing the 
fact with intent to defraud should be liable to two years’ 
imprisonment, was held valid by the Ontario Court of Appeal, 
though such enactment was connected with property and 
civil rights as well as with the administration of justice®. 
The following provincial Acts have been held invalid, as Acts held 
infringing on the Dominion rights regarding bankruptcy and reid. 
insolvency :— 
An Act of New Brunswick providing for the examination 
of a debtor before a judge and authorizing the judge to grant 
the debtor a discharge from gaol on proof that he is unable 
to pay his debts and had made no fraudulent transfer or 
undue preference’. 
The Quebec License Act 1870 in so far as it imposed a 
tax on the sum realized from the sale of an insolvent’s 
effects®. 
1 I) Union St Jacques v. Belisle, L. R. 6 P. C. 81; 1 Cart. p. 63. 
2 MeClanaghan v. St Anw’s Society, Q.24 L. C. J. 162. 
8 Crombie v. Jackson, 34 U. C. Q. B. 575; 1 Cart. 685. 
4 Peek v. Shields, 6 Ont. App. Rep. 639. 
5 R.v. Chandler, N. B. 1 Hannay 556; 2 Cart. 4921. 
6 Coté v. Wutson, 3 Quebec, L. R. 157; 2 Cart, 343.