§ MR. LAWRENCEI beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether persons registered in the books of the Bank of England as holders of British Government Stocks enjoy the same right to compensation, in case of loss arising through a forged transfer or forged power of attorney, as investors in the stocks of companies which have adopted the provisions of the Forged Transfers Acts, 1891–2?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir W. HARCOURT,) DerbyOn the question itself, the rights to compensation are not the same. One class of persons has statutable rights under the provisions of the Forged Transfers Acts, the other has well-known rights defined by Common Law and a series of cases. The liability of the Bank of England towards a purchaser of Consols is not defined by Statute, and with Stocks transferable in books, such losses as occurred to purchasers of Railway Stocks in the well-known Barton Case are practically impossible. As a matter of fact, no purchaser of Consols has ever had to complain that what was delivered to him was anything else than what he bought, nor has he ever had to defend his right to the Stock which a broker has caused a dealer to transfer into his—the purchaser's—name.