Williams v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.

Citations

• 236 U.S. 549
• 35 S. Ct. 289
• 59 L. Ed. 713
• 1915 U.S. LEXIS 1779

Syllabus

<p>Statutes should be sensibly construed, with a view- to effectuating the-legislative intent.</p> <p>It is the purpose of the Bankruptcy Act to convert the assets of the bankrupt into cash for distribution among creditors and then relieve the honest debtor from the weight of oppressive indebtedness and permit him to start afresh free from obligations and responsibilities consequent upon business misfortunes.</p> <p>Within the intendment of the bankruptcy law provable debts include all liabilities of the bankrupt founded on. contract, express or implied, which at the time of the bankruptcy were fixed in amount or susceptible of liquidation.</p> <p>Under the provisions of the Bankrupt Act, the surety of the bankrupt either shares,, or enjoys-due opportunity to share, in the principal’s estate, and, therefore, the discharge of the bankrupt acquits the obligation between them incident to the relationship.</p> <p>A discharge in bankruptcy acquits the express 'obligation of the principal to indemnify his surety against loss by reason of their joint bond conditioned to secure his faithful performance of a building • contract broken prior to the bankruptcy although the surety did not pay the consequent damage until thereafter.</p>