Roberts & Son v. Edie

Citations

• 85 Md. 181
• 36 A. 820
• 1897 Md. LEXIS 37

Syllabus

<p>Preference in Payment of Wages Due to Employees by Insolvents— Time Within which Wages Must Be Earned.</p> <p>Code, Art. 47, sec. 15, provides that when any person shall execute an assignment for the benefit of creditors or be adjudicated an insolvent, &c., moneys due for wages to employees contracted not more than three months prior to the execution of such assignment or to the adjudication in insolvency shall be entitled to priority of payment. Held,</p> <p>1st. That the time limit fixed by the statute relates to the adjudication of insolvency and not to the filing of the petition in insolvency, and claims for wages due less than three months before the filing of the petition, but more than three months before the adjudication, are not entitled to priority in the distribution of the insolvent’s assets.</p> <p>2nd. That where an assignment for the benefit of creditors is executed and it is afterwards annulled in the proceedings by which the assignor is adjudicated an insolvent, claims for wages which were due less than three months before the execution of the deed but more than three months before the adjudication are not entitled to priority, because the assets are not distributed under the deed and the same having been vacated is to be treated as if it had never existed.</p>