Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/391

This page needs to be proofread.

BHABP V. PHILADBLPHU WAREHOUSE 00. 379 �woulcl hardly amount oven to this. The fraud contemplated by the statute, as a bar to the bankrupt's discharge, is fraud in fact, involv- ing moral turpitude — intentional wrong. Neal v. Clark, 95 U. S. 704; Sharpe v. Warehome Go. 37 Leg. Intel. 85; Stewart v. Platt,Ia. 118; In re Wyatt, 2 N. B. E. 280. �The register's act in reopening the case and admitting further proof was right. �The specifications subsequently prepared, and filed on the argu- ment, should have been filed while the matter was before the reg- ister, and been reported upon by him. In the absence of a report they cannot be satisf actorily considered, and we do not think the case should be kept open by another reference. I may say, how- ever, that I do not find in the case anything to sustain these specifi- cations. No motive is suggested, or can be discovered, for the false Bwearing attributed to the bankrupt. His testimony was directly against himself. The only admissible inference is that he was laboring under a misapprehension, either as respects the question propounded, or the facts of which he spoke. Nor does it appear that he had any motive to conceal his books. They contained nothing that could be used against him, so far as appears ; and their produc- tion was essential to his own case. I find no satisf actory evidence that he was guilty of wilful neglect or misconduct respecting his books. ���Shabp, Assignee, v. Philadelphia Waeehouse Co.* �{Gireuit Court, E. D. Pennsylvania. October 25, 1881.) �1. Preference— Consideration— CoMPOTJNDiNG Misdbmeanob AFFECima Pdb- I,IC Intbrests. �An agreement by a crediter not to prosecute a debtor for a misdemeanor affecting public interests io an illegal consideration, and, as against the debtor's assignee in banliruptcy, will not support a transfer of the debtor's property to the crediter received with knowledge of tho debtor's insolvency. �Hearing on Bill, Answer, and Proof. �The material facts of the case, as shown by the evidence, were as follows : �*Reported by Albert B. Guilbcrt, Esq., of the Philadolphia bar. ��� �