Non-residents. Duties of judges asylum. Any person or persons committed to the asylum having money in their own right on their person when arrested, or having money due them for services rendered as employee in business or labor, the same, if money in hand, shall be certified to by the committing judge, and ordered to be sent with said insane person or persons to the asylum, and if money due for services, the county judge shall direct the district attorney of the county to collect by suit or otherwise, and remit the same to the directors, and when the amount or amounts thus forwarded to the directors shall not exceed the sum of fifty dollars, it shall be held on deposit for the use and benefit of said insane person or persons when discharged, but when the same shall exceed fifty dollars, the excess shall be paid to the treasurer of the asylum, and shall be applied monthly for the maintenance of said insane person or persons in such sums as required for other paying patients. On the death of such insane person or persons, the balance of the money on deposit for his or her use shall be held subject to the order of his or her legal representatives; or in case the said insane person or persons shall recover, then the fifty dollars, together with the balance of the excess, if there be any, shall be refunded to said person or persons when discharged. The kindred or friends of an inmate of the asylum may remove such inmate from the asylum upon giving satisfactory evidence to the court by which such insane person was committed that they or either of them are prepared to take charge of and give proper care and attention to said insane, and to protect the community into which he or she may be removed against his or her insane acts; and the county judge is hereby authorized and directed to issue an order of removal directed to the resident physician of said asylum, when receiving such satisfactory evidence, and the said resident physician is hereby directed to reject all applications for removal of insane persons except on the presentation of such orders. [Amendment, approved April 4, 1864; 1863-4, 324; took effect immediately. 3804. SEC. 16. Insane persons, not citizens of this State, may be committed to said asylum upon such legal proceedings being had as required in section fourteen of this act in cases of insane persons residents of this State, and upon complying with the payments and giving the bond, with sureties, as provided in section fifteen of this act, and upon no other conditions. But no indigent insane person, a citizen or resident of any other state or territory, shall be committed to said asylum unless the governor of the state or territory, or the supervisors of the county of the state or territory of which the said indigent insane person is a citizen or resident, shall pay to the directors of the asylum twenty-five dollars a month, quarterly in advance, and supply suitable clothing for said insane person, for the first quarter, and execute a bond, with good and sufficient sureties, for the payment of all subsequent quarters in advance, and also for the supply of suitable clothing, in the same manner and to the same extent as required for other paying patients. [Amendment, approved April 4, 1864; 1863-4; took effect immediately. 3805. SEC. 17. The duties of the county judge herein provided may be performed in San Francisco. in the City and County of San Francisco by either the county judge or the probate judge in and for the said city and county. [Amendment, approved April 1, 1864; 1863-4, 279; took effect immediately. Powers of courts of record. Proviso. Special asylum tax. Disposition of moneys, 3806. SEC. 18. Any court of record of this State shall have power to commit to said asylum any person charged with any offense triable by such court, who shall have been pronounced, in the manner prescribed by law, to be insane, and who shall continue insane; provided, that the said court shall issue, with the commitment of said person, an order to the resident physician of the asylum, requiring him, in case such person shall be found to have feigned insanity, to notify the judge of the court committing such person of such fact, that the criminal may be returned and dealt with according to law. 3807. SEC. 19. A tax of five cents upon each one hundred dollars value of taxable property is hereby levied, and directed to be collected and paid, for the year eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four, for insane asylum purposes, upon the assessed value of all real and personal property in this State, not by law exempt from taxation; and the said tax levied under the provisions of this act shall be paid in legal coin of the United States, or in foreign coin at the value fixed for such coin by the laws of the United States. The money collected under the special tax herein provided shall be expended in the erection of additional buildings, yards and other improvements, in connection with the present buildings, and in the purchase. for the State, of two blocks of ground adjacent to the insane asylum; and the controller of State is hereby authorized and directed to draw his warrants on the treasurer of State in favor of the directors of the asylum, in such sums as may by required of him, from time to time, by said directors; provided, that said warrants do not exceed, in Proviso. the aggregate, the sum that shall be collected and paid into the treasury under the provisions of this act; and provided, further, that the board of supervisors of each of Proviso as to the several counties of this State, are hereby required at their meetings, to be held on supervisors. levy of tax by the first Monday of May, A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty-three, if they have not already done so, to add to the amonnt levied by law on each one hundred dollars of taxable property, real and personal, for either State or county purposes, the ad valorem tax levied by this act; and the tax so levied is hereby made a lien against the property so assessed, which lien shall attach on the first Monday of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-three. 3808. SEC. 20. The moneys collected under the special tax herein levied, shall be Expenditure of expended for the purposes herein specified, under the direction of the board of direct- moneys. ors of said asylum; provided that they shall pay for the two blocks of land herein Proviso. specified an amount not exceeding the sum of four thousand five hundred dollars; and provided, also, that they shall be assisted in devising plans of improvements by Proviso. the resident physician of said asylum. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and all laws or parts of laws inconsistent or being in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. An Act amendatory of and supplemental to the foregoing act of April 25, 1863. Approved April 4, 1864; 1863-4, 824. [SECTIONS 1, 2, 3, and 4 contain the amendments to Secs. 7, 14, 15, and 16 of the foregoing act of April 25, 1863, therein inserted.] removed. 3809. SEC. 5. The directors of said asylum are hereby authorized and enjoined to Harmless exclude from the benefits of the institution all persons not herein enumerated as enti- patients to be tled to admission; provided, that all indigent patients of a harmless character admitted since the passage of this act, after a residence in the asylum for two years without a prospect of recovery, shall be removed by order of the supervisors of the counties whence committed immediately upon notice being given by the resident physician of the asylum. SEC. 6. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. SEC. 7. This act shall take effect immediately. [An Act condemning parts of certain streets adjacent to the insane asylum in the City of Stockton, for asylum purposes, approved April 4, 1864, 1863-4, 469, provided for the condemnation of portions of Stanislaus, José Jesus, and Flora streets.] Ensolvents. An Act for the relief of insolvent debtors, and protection of creditors. Approved May 4, 1852, 69. insolvents. Cal. 230. 7 Cal. 3810. SECTION 1. Every insolvent debtor may be discharged from his debts as here- Discharge of inafter provided, upon executing an assignment of all his property, real, personal, or 2 Cal. 107. 5 Cal. mixed, for the benefit of all his creditors, and upon compliance with the several pro- 195. 6 Cal. 76. 6 visions of this act; provided, said assignment be made bona fide and without fraud. 428. 8 Cal. 44. 14 The district court only shall have original jurisdiction in the subject-matter herein contained.(") Cal. 450. 22 Cal. 38. Proviso. 10 Cal. 418. 3811. SEC. 2. Such insolvent debtor shall petition the judge having original jurisdic- Petition. tion within the place of his domicil, or usual residence, which petition shall briefly state 19 Cal. 162. the circumstances which compel him to surrender his property to his creditors, and shall conclude with a prayer to make a cession of his estate, and to be discharged from his debts, in pursuance of the provisions of this act; provided such insolvent debtor Proviso. shall have resided within the county where he files his petition, for at least six months next preceding the filing of the same.(') [Amendment, approved April 27, 1860, 283. 3812. SEO. 3. The debtor shall annex to said petition his schedule; that is to say, a summary statement of his affairs, with a list of losses he may have sustained, giving 8 Cal. 44. the names of his creditors, if known; the amount due to each creditor, and the cause 9 Cal. 477. and nature of said indebtedness, and when it accrued, and a statement of any existing judgment, mortgage, collateral or other securities for the payment of any such debt; (*) The county courts have now original jurisdiction in insol. (*) The original section did not contain the proviso. vent cases, see Sec. 81 of the act concerning courts of justice. Schedule. 7 Cal. 481. 22 Cal. 38. Oath to schedule. Order to show cause. Homestead. Books. 19 Cal. 691. Notice to creditors. 6 Cal, 600. Stay of proceedings Proviso. said schedule shall also contain a full, complete, and perfect inventory of all his property, real, personal and mixed, of all choses in action, debts due, or to be become due, and all moneys on hand of such insolvent; said schedule shall also contain a full statement of all incumbrances existing upon the property of the insolvent. The said debtor shall as nearly as possible estimate the property by him surrendered and set forth in the schedule, at its true cash value. 3813. SEC. 4. The said schedule shall be signed by the debtor, and be by him sworn to before the judge having jurisdiction of the failure, in the following words, to wit: "I (A. B.), do in the presence of Almighty God truly and solemnly swear, that the schedule now delivered by me doth contain a full, perfect and true discovery of all the estate, real, personal, and mixed goods and effects, to me in any way belonging; all such debts as are to me owing, or to any person or persons in trust for me, and all securities and contracts whereby any money may hereafter become payable, or any benefit or advantage accrue to me, or to my use, or to any other person or persons in trust for me; that I have no lands, money, stock or estate, reversion or expectancy, besides that set forth in my schedule; that I have, in no instance, created or acknowledged a debt for a greater sum than I honestly and truly owed; that I have not directly nor indirectly sold, or otherwise disposed of in trust, or concealed, any part of my property, effects or contracts; that I have not in any way compounded with my creditors, whereby to secure the same, or to receive or to expect any profit or advantage therefrom, or to defraud, or deceive any creditor to whom I am indebted, in any manner whatever, so help me God." 3814. SEC. 5. The judge receiving such petition, schedule and affidavit, shall make an order requiring all the creditors of such insolvent to show cause, if they can, why an assignment of the insolvent estate should not be made, and he be discharged from his debts. Said schedule being signed and sworn to by the petitioner, the judge shall certify the same, and cause it to be filed in the office of the clerk of the court in the county where the assignment was made, there to remain for the information of the creditors. 3815. SEC. 6. The insolvent debtor, on a surrender of his property, shall include and set forth in his schedule, his whole estate, including the homestead, if any he has, and all such property as may be by law exempt on execution from seizure and forced sale; and it shall be the duty of the judge having jurisdiction of the failure, to exempt and set apart for the use and benefit of said insolvent, such real and personal property as he is by law authorized to retain to his own use, or that of his family. 3816. SEC. 7. The insolvent shall either before or on the day appointed for the meeting of the creditors, deliver to the court all the commercial or other books he may have kept, which books shall be deposited in the clerk's office of said court. Said insolvent shall also deliver to the court, at the same time, all vouchers, notes, bonds, bills, securities, or other evidence of debt, in any manner relating to, or having any bearing upon or connection with the property surrendered by said debtor, and all such papers or securities shall be deposited in the clerk's office of said court, and the clerk shall hand them over, together with the books of the insolvent, to the assignees, who may be appointed. 3817. SEC. 8. The judge granting the order for a meeting of the creditors, shall direct the clerk of the court to issue a notice calling the creditors of the insolvent to be and appear upon a specified day, not less than thirty nor more than forty days from the first publication of such notice, before said judge, either in chambers or in open court, as said judge shall order, to show cause why the prayer of the alleged insolvent should not be granted. Said notice shall be published at least once a week, for four successive weeks, in a newspaper printed in the county in which the application is made, if there is one; if there be none so published, then in a newspaper published in any county adjoining said county.(a) [Amendment, approved April 27, 1863, 750. 3818. SEC. 9. When issuing the order for the meeting of creditors, the judge shall order that all proceedings against the debtor be stayed; provided, however, that the said stay of proceedings shall not prevent the judge who shall have granted it, from appointing a receiver to take possession of all property of the debtor, for the benefit of all his creditors, if one or more of his creditors, his agent, or attorney in fact, shall apply for such appointment, and swear that he has reason to believe, and does believe, () The original section required a notice, calling the credit ors to "appear within thirty days from the date of the publication of such notice," and that it should be published "thirty days." It was amended, previously to the above amendment, by act approved April 27, 1860, 258, so as to read like the amendment in the text, with the exception that the words "published nearest said county" were used instead of "published in any county adjoining said county." 14 Cal. 47. that the debtor may avail himself of the stay of proceedings, and keep his property 10 Cal. 71, from his creditors, if no cause sufficient, in the judgment of the court, shall have been shown, why the debtor should not have the benefit of this act, and shall produce satisfactory proof of the facts on which his affidavit is founded. creditors. 3819. SEC. 10. At the meeting of creditors, the said creditors after having certified Meetings of on oath, that their respective claims are legitimate and true, shall proceed to the appointment of one or more assignees, not exceeding three; in appointing assignees, the opinion of the majority of said creditors, in sums or in claims, shall prevail. At such meeting, any creditor may be represented by his duly authorized agent, or attorney in fact. duties, 3820. SEO. 11. When the assignee or assignees shall have been duly appointed in Assignees, their the meeting of creditors, and the surrender of the property shall have been duly accepted of, it shall the duty of said assignees to deposit in the clerk's office of the court, who shall have issued the order for a call of the creditors, a certified statement of the deliberations of said creditors, on the appointment of the said assignees. 3821. SEC. 12. The judge shall require from the assignees a bond with one or more Bonds of assignees good and sufficient securities, on which bond the parties therein shall be liable, jointly and severally, for the amount thereof, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties devolving upon said assignees. The amount of such bond shall be determined by the majority of creditors; should not the creditors so determine, the amount of said bond shall be fixed by the court having jurisdiction of the failure. 3822. SEC. 13. The assignees shall apply by petition to the court, who shall have Duty of assignees. ordered a meeting of creditors, to be authorized to sell at public auction, and to the best and highest bidder for cash, all the insolvent debtor's property of whatsoever nature or kind; and said assignees shall give at least twenty days' public notice, in the same manner as notice for a meeting of creditors, of all sales of the property of said insolvent, giving at the same time a full description of the property to be disposed of; provided, however, that if any of the property surrendered be of a perishable Proviso. nature, the assignees shall be authorized to sell the same, on giving at least five days' notice of such sale by publication or notice of such sale as in sale on execution. bilities. 7 Cal. 89. 3823. SEC. 14. The assignees shall deposit all funds belonging to the failure, in their Their responsi joint names, so that nothing can be drawn without the consent of all. Said funds shall remain inviolable, and shall never be loaned, used or mixed with the personal affairs of the assignees; and, finally, the said assignees shall make a distribution of the proceeds of the property of the insolvent, agreeably to the direction of the court; said assignees may sue and be sued, either as plaintiffs or defendants, in every thing which respects the rights and actions, which may belong to the insolvent, or which may concern the mass of the creditors. All suits brought against the insolvent anterior to his surrender of property, before the courts of other counties, shall be transferred to the court having jurisdiction in the county in which said insolvent shall have presented his schedule, and may be continued on motion and notice against his assignees. 3824. SEC. 15. Whenever a dividend shall be declared, the assignees shall make out Dividends. a statement containing the names of the several creditors, mentioning the sums which are due them respectively; and the said statement shall, besides, contain the pro rata sums to be divided among all the creditors. Said assignees shall deposit said statement in the clerk's office of the court, who shall order that notice be given to the creditors in the same manner as for the meeting, that they show cause within fifteen days next following the publication, why the said statement should not be accepted, and the distribution made agreeably to its contents. 3825. SEC. 16. Two or more creditors may at any time make a motion to know if Accounts of assignees. the assignees have funds in their hands, and the said assignees shall be required to present their accounts, and if they have funds they shall distribute them without delay. 3826. SEC. 17. Should the assignees refuse or neglect to render their accounts as Discharge of assignees. required by the preceding section, or to pay over a dividend, when they shall have, in the opinion of the court, sufficient funds for that purpose in their hands, the court shall immediately discharge such assignees from their trust, and shall have power to - appoint others in their place. The assignees so discharged shall deliver over to those appointed by the court, all the funds, property, books, vouchers and securities belonging to the insolvent, without charging any commission or expenses thereon, and shall also be condemned to pay to the new assignees, for the benefit of the mass of the creditors, twenty per cent. in addition to the amount of funds in their hands. 3827. SEO. 18. If, on the day appointed for the meeting, the creditors, although Refusal to ap duly summoned, do not attend, or refuse to appoint one or more assignees, it shall be point assignees, lawful for the judge before whom the said meeting may take place, to authorize the sheriff of the county to receive the surrender of property offered by the debtor, and to perform in every respect the functions of assignee, and for the faithful performance of said trust, he shall be responsible on his official bond; provided, that if any of the creditors should choose to take that charge, the judge shall appoint said creditor for that purpose, upon said creditor giving bond, with good and sufficient security proportioned to the value of the property committed to his charge. Proviso. Fees of assignees. Proviso. Fraud. 4 Cal. 387. Opposition of creditors. Jury. Proof of fraud. Investigation of fraud. Penalty. If accusation of fraud is ill-founded. Proviso. 6 Cal. 287. Effect of fraud. 3828. SEC. 19. The assignees, collectively, shall be entitled to charge and receive for their services, to wit: ten per centum upon a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars; eight per centum upon sums above ten thousand dollars, and not exceeding thirty thousand dollars; six per centum upon sums above thirty thousand dollars, and not exceding sixty thousand dollars; and four per centum on all sums exceeding sixty thousand dollars; provided, that the said commissions shall be allowed only on such net sums of money as shall actually come to their hands or be distributed by them. The mass of creditors shall in no manner be liable for the fees of counsel of the insolvent debtor in conducting a surrender of the property. 3829. SEC. 20. That in case, after the appointment of said assignees, any one or more of the creditors of the insolvent debtor should deem necessary to oppose it, on the ground of some fraud having been committed by the said insolvent debtor, or of the appointment not having been legally made, he shall, within ten days next following the appointment of said assignees, lay before the court which has already taken cognizance of the case, his written opposition, stating specially the several facts of nullity of the said appointment, or of fraud by him alleged against the insolvent debtor, whereupon, in case of accusation of fraud, after having received the said insolvent debtor's answer, the court shall order a jury to be summoned, of not less than six men, to be summoned in the same manner as juries are summoned in the district court, for the purpose of deciding on the said accusation. 3830. SEC. 21. On the day or at the term appointed in such order, or any subsequent day or term, the court shall proceed to hear the proofs and allegations of the parties; and before any other proceedings be had, shall require proof of the publicetion of the notice as herein provided. 3831. SEC. 22. Upon such an accusation of fraud, the creditor who shall have brought the same, shall have the right to interrogate the insolvent debtor on oath, and put to him such written questions, as to the state of his affairs, and the several transactions in which he may have been engaged anterior to his failure, as he shall think proper; and the insolvent shall answer, in writing, to the said interrogatories, in a pertinent and distinct manner; and every equivocal answer on his part shall be construed against him. 3832. SEO. 23. If the jury summoned for the purpose of deciding on the accusation of fraud, brought against such insolvent debtor, declare in their verdict that said insolvent has been guilty of fraud, the said debtor shall forever be deprived of the benefit of the laws passed for the relief of insolvent debtors in this State. 3833. SEC. 24. If the accusation of fraud brought against the debtor is declared to be ill-founded, or if there be no opposition to the surrender of his property, and provided said surrender has been made according to the provisions of this act, said debtor shall be released and fully discharged from any and all debts until then contracted, and contracted after the passage of this act, and from every judicial proceeding relative to the same; provided, always, that the release and discharge authorized by this section shall not apply to debts and liabilities not mentioned and set forth in the schedule, unless the insolvent shall declare in his petition that it is his desire to be discharged from all his debts and liabilities, and that he has described them according to the best of his knowledge and recollection; in which case the discharge and release authorized by this section shall embrace all his debts and liabilities, notwithstanding they may have been imperfectly described, or not described at all.(") [Amendment, approved April 27, 1860, 283. 3834. SEC. 25. Any insolvent debtor who shall be found guilty of fraud as aforesaid, shall forever be deemed incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the government of this State, shall moreover be liable to be prosecuted and punished as a perjurer, if he should be convicted of having foresworn himself in any of the declarations he may have made agreeably to the provisions of this act, and if convicted () The original section differed from the amendment in the and discharged only from such debts and liabitities as he shall proviso, which was as follows: have set forth, and named in his schedule. Provided, always, that said insolvent debtor shall be released |