Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 5.djvu/229

THE VALIDITY OF ATTACHMENTS. 213 ment or execution of movables must be surrendered. 1 If execu- tion be levied or even an attachment made before the bankruptcy, the creditor may, however, retain the advantage which he has thereby gained, for the English bankruptcy law seeks only to vest in the assignee title to the bankrupt's property as it existed at the time of the bankruptcy and subject to all liens and equities exist- ing at the time. Where a bankruptcy and an attachment abroad of the bankrupt's property there by an English creditor took place on the same day, Lord Eldon allowed an inquiry to be made as to the hour of the day when each took place, for the purpose of determining priority. 2 If a foreign creditor, by attachment or execution levied on mov- able property of an English bankrupt situated outside of England, secures payment of his claim, he can retain the advantage thus gained. He is not a subject of England, and therefore not bound by the English bankruptcy law. But if such a creditor, not having been able to collect the full amount of his claims from property of his debtor situated outside of England, wishes to prove the amount remaining unpaid, he will be allowed to do so only upon accounting for what he has received abroad. He need not come into the English court unless he wishes, but if he elects so to do, he must come in upon the same footing as all other creditors and be content with the same dividend. 3 In this country the principles laid down by the English courts as just set forth would doubtless be generally accepted so far as the United States Constitution does not prevent, and the facts that each State is a separate jurisdiction and that a large business is often carried on to a greater or less extent in half of the United States tend to increase the importance of these principles. A provision in the Massachusetts Insolvency Law in regard to at- tachments has led to a further development of the law in that State. The Massachusetts statute provides that the assignment shall vest in the assignee not only " all the property of the debtor as of the time of the first publication of the notice of issuing the warrant in case of voluntary proceedings, and at the time of the 1 Hunter v. Potts, 4 T. R. 182 ; Sill v. Worswick, 1 H. Bl. 665 ; Phillips v. Hunter 2 H. Bl. 402. 2 Ex parte Dobree, Ex parte Le Mesurier, 8 Ves. 82. 8 Selkrigg v. Davis, 2 Dow, 230; s. c. 2 Rose, 291 ; Ex parte Wilson, L. R. 7 Ch. 490; Banco de Portugal v. Waddell, 5 App. Cas. 161 ; Re Bugbee, 9 N. B. R. 258.