William Guthrie - L'Am - Ro. Bell v. J. Curl, J. Douglas, and Claud Girdwood and Company - Greenshields [1825] UKHL 1_WS_191

UKHL
William Guthrie - L'Am - Ro. Bell v. J. Curl, J. Douglas, and Claud Girdwood and Company - Greenshields
[1825] UKHL 1_WS_191
Circumstances under which it was held, (affirming the judgment of the Court of Session), That an agent in a sequestration was not entitled, after the bankrupts had been discharged on payment of a composition, and finding security for payment of expenses, to claim the amount of his account from the creditors.Malcolm Paterson and Company, merchants in Glasgow, having become bankrupts, a mandate in the following terms, subscribed by them, by the individual partners, and by Claud Girdwood and Company, creditors to the extent required by law, was transmitted to the appellant, William Guthrie, writer in Edinburgh:—
“October 27. 1820.—We hereby authorize you to apply to the Court of Session for sequestration of the estates, real and personal, of the subscribers, Malcolm Paterson and Company, and individual partners; for doing whereof this shall be your mandate.”
In virtue of this authority, the appellant applied for and obtained a sequestration of the estates, on which Gilbert Sanders, accountant in Glasgow, was afterwards elected and confirmed trustee, and by whom the appellant (who was himself a creditor) was employed as agent in the sequestration. On the 20th of January 1821, the bankrupts offered a composition of 6s. 8d. per pound on the debts due by the Company, and of 6d. per pound on the debts due by Malcolm Paterson as an individual, which offer was entertained by the creditors, who instructed the trustee to call a meeting, for the purpose of finally deciding on it. At the meeting which was held for the purpose, the bankrupts renewed their offer, and proposed Charles M'Kidd, brick-maker in Glasgow, as cautioner, both for payment of the composition and the expenses of the sequestration. To this the creditors present agreed, with the exception of a Mr Kennedy, who declined to accede unless additional security was granted. In consequence of this, and of the extent of Mr Kennedy's claims, the meeting

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After the usual intimations the bankrupts were discharged; but soon thereafter the cautioner, M'Kidd, became insolvent, and Malcolm Paterson and Company, and the individual partners, were again rendered bankrupt, and a sequestration of their estates awarded.In the meanwhile, the appellant had repeatedly applied to Sanders, the trustee, and also to Alexander Ure, the agent at Glasgow, for payment of his account; and it appeared, that in liquidation of it a bill was granted to him by the bankrupt, Paterson, and one Downie, which was guaranteed by Paterson and Company. When that Company were sequestrated a second time, Sanders claimed on the estate in virtue of that bill, stating, that he was the creditor in it by virtue of an indorsation from the appellant. Thereafter the appellant presented a petition to the Court of Session, under the Act of Sederunt 6th February 1806, in which he stated, that he had not received payment of his account, and praying for a remit to the auditor in the usual

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Against these judgments the appellant entered an appeal; but the House of Lords “ordered and adjudged, that the appeal be dismissed, and the interlocutor complained of affirmed, with L.100 costs.”Solicitors: M'Dougal and Callendar— A. Mundell,—Solicitors.