Furth v. Stahl

Citations

• 205 Pa. 439
• 55 A. 29
• 1903 Pa. LEXIS 591

Syllabus

<p>Practice, G. P. — Auditor—Opinion of court.</p> <p>Where a court overrules the report of an auditor, it should file an opinion stating its ground for so doing.</p> <p>Bankruptcy — Mortgage—Sale of real estate — Consent—Estoppel—Jurisdiction.</p> <p>Where a trustee in bankruptcy expressly agrees that real estate of a bankrupt shall be sold under a mortgage, he is estopped from contesting the jurisdiction of the court to appoint an auditor to report distribution of the fund raised by the sale.</p> <p>Where a court has in its own hands a fund raised by its own process, its jurisdiction to appoint an auditor to distribute the fund does not depend upon any one’s consent.</p> <p>Bankruptcy — Preference—Future consideration.</p> <p>A pledge or payment for a consideration given in the present or to be given in the future whether in money or goods or services is not a preference. The object of prohibiting preferences is to prevent favoritism whether for secret benefit to himself or other reason among a debtor’s creditors who ought in fairness to stand on the same footing. A transaction by which the debtor parts with something now, in return for something he acquires or is to acquire in the future is not within the mischief the bankrupt act was aimed against.</p> <p>Bankruptcy — Counsel fees — Mortgage—Preference—Section 60 of the federal bankrupt act.</p> <p>Under section 60 of the federal bankrupt act, a person who anticipates the filing of a petition in bankruptcy against himself, may employ an attorney and give to him a mortgage to secure to him payment of his fees for services to be rendered in the bankruptcy proceedings. All that the court can do is to determine whether the amount of the mortgage is reasonable. The counsel fees referred to in section 64 of the act are of an entirely different kind, and that section has no bearing upon the fees referred to in section 60.</p>