titled to vote, and detailed regulations respecting
proofs and the valuation of securities are laid down in the first and
second schedules to the act of 1883. One of the chief alterations in the
law on this point is the condition imposed on creditors on bills of
exchange to deduct from their claims the value of the liability of prior
obligants before voting, thus cancelling the power of controlling the
proceedings previously possessed by persons who had no real interest in the
estate. Votes may be given in person or by proxy, and stringent regulations
are laid down with the view of preventing the abuse of proxies. General
proxies entitling the holder to exercise all the powers which the creditor
could exercise if present may be given to the official receiver or to any
person in the regular employment of the creditor. Special proxies may be
given to any person to vote for specified resolutions, or for the
appointment of specified persons as trustee and committee. Only official
forms can be used, and the blanks must be filled up in the handwriting of
the creditor or some person in his regular employment, including the
authorized agent of a creditor resident abroad. A proxy must be lodged with
the official receiver not later than four o'clock on the day before the
meeting or adjourned meeting at which it is to be used. Resolutions are
ordinary, special or extraordinary. An ordinary resolution is carried by a
majority in value of the creditors voting; a special resolution by a
majority in number and three-fourths in value of such creditors. The only
instance of a resolution other than these is that required for the approval
of a composition or scheme which requires a majority in number and
three-fourths in value of all the creditors who have proved. The majority
of questions arising at a meeting are decided by an ordinary resolution.

_Adjudication._

If the creditors so resolve, or if a composition or scheme of arrangement
is not proposed by the debtor or entertained by the creditors, or if
entertained is not approved by the court, or if without reasonable excuse
the debtor fails to furnish a proper statement of his affairs, or if his
public examination is adjourned _sine die_, the court adjudicates the
debtor bankrupt and thereupon his property vests in a trustee, and, subject
to the payment of the costs and fees of administration, is divisible among
his creditors until all his debts are paid in full with interest at the