The Lord Chancellorlaid on the Table of the House a bill for the Amendment of the Law respecting Bankruptcy. He did not then intend to enter into any details, but reserved him self until the second reading. At present he would only state that this bill in its main features was founded on the report of a commission appointed for the purpose 510 of considering the law of bankruptcy, and was, therefore, in this respect similar to the bill proposed by his noble and learned Friend who had immediately preceeded him in his office. He had employed in preparing it the same gentleman who had been employed by his noble and learned Friend, and who was one of the commissioners. The bill in most particulars corresponded with that of his noble and learned Friend, and those parts in which it differed would be subjects of fair discussion and consideration in a future stage.
Lord Broughamwished to know whether the bill contained any extension of the provisions of the bill of 1832.
The Lord Chancellor—It had been re commended by the commissioners, and suggested also by some of the principal merchants in the city, that in consequence of the increased facility of communication, the jurisdiction of the town commissioners, which by practice had been limited to a radius of forty miles round London, should be extended to a greater distance, which would be done; and as to the provisions alluded to by his noble and learned Friend, they had been found to work so well that he proposed to extend them to the whole kingdom.
§ Bill read a first time.