BILLS OF SALE ORDINANCE, 1886
Title
BILLS OF SALE ORDINANCE, 1886
Description
No. 7 of 1886.
To consolidate and amend the law for preventing Frauds upon
Creditors by secret Bills of Sale of personal chattels.
[12th July, 1886.]
1. The Bills of Sale ordinance,
2.'Bill of sale ' includes bills of sale, assignments, transfers,
declarations of trust without transfer, inventories of goods with
receipt thereto attached, or receipts for purchase moneys of goods,
and other assurances of personal chattels, and also powers of
attorney, authorities, or licences to take possession of personal
chattels as security for any debt, and also any agreement, whether
intended or not to he followed by the execution of any other instru-
ment, by which a right in equity to any personal chattels, or to
any charge or security thereon, is conferred, but does not include
the following documents : that is to say, assignments for the benefit
of the creditors of the person making or giving the same, marriage
settlements, transfers or assignments of any ship or vessel or any
share thereof, transfers of goods in the ordinary course of business
of any trade or calling, bills of sale of goods in foreign parts or at
sea, bills of lading, India warrants, warehousekeepers' certificates,
warrants or orders for the delivery of goods, or any other docu-
ments used in the ordinnry course of business as proof on the
possession or control of goods, or authorising or purporting to
authorise, either by indorsement or by delivery, the possessor of
such document to transfer or receive goods thereby represented :
Provided always that in the construction of sections 8, 10 (1), 12
to 19, and 23, the said expression does not include bills of sale or
other instruments hereinbefore mentioned which may be given
otherwise than by way of security for the payment of money :
' Personal chattels' means goods, furniture, and other articles
capable of complete transfer delivery, and (when separately
assigned or charged) fixtures and growing crops, but does not in-
clude fixtures (except trade machinery as hereinafter defined) when
assigned together with any interest in any land or building to
which they are affixed, or growing crops when assigned together
with any interest in the land on which they grow, or shares or
interests in the stock, funds, or securities of any Government or
in the capital or property of incorporated or joint stock companies,
or choses in action, or any stock or produce upon any farm or
lands which, by virtre of any covenant or agreement, ought not
to be removed from any farm where the same are at the time of
making or giving of such bill of sale.
Personal chattels shall be deemed to be in the apparent posses-
sion of the person making or giving a bill of sale, so long as they
remain or are in or unpon any house, mill, warehouse, building,
works, yard, land, or other premises occupied by him or are used
and enjoyed by him in any place whatsoever, notwithstanding that
formal possession thereof may have been taken by or given to any
other person:
' The Registrar ' means the Registrar of the Supreme Court:
' Prescribed ' means prescribed by rules made under the pro-
visions of this Ordinance.
2. This Ordinance shall apply to every bill of sale (whether the
salne is absolute or subject or not subject to any trust), whereby
the holder or grantee has power, either with or without notice and
either immediately or at any future time, to seize or take possession
of any personal chattels within the Colony comprised in or made
subject to such bill of sale.
[s, 4, rep. No. 62 of 1911.]
5.-(1) Trade machinery shall, for the purposes of tbis Ordi-
nance, be deemed to be personal chattels, and any mode of
disposition of trade machinery by the owner thereof which would
be a bill of sale as to any other personal chattels shall be deemed
to be a bill of sale within the meanings of this Ordinance.
(2) For the purposes of this Ordinance, trade machinery means
the machinery used in or ,attached to any factory or workshop-
Ist. exclusive of the fixed motive-powers, such as the water-
wheels and steam engines, and the steam-boiler , donkey engines,
and other fixed appurtenances of the said motive-powers; and
2nd. exclusive of the fixed power machinery, such as the shafts,
wheels, drums, and their fixed purtenances, which transmit the
action of the motive powers to the other machinery, fixed and loose
and
3rd. exclusive of the pipes for steam, gas, and water in the
factory or workshop.
(3) The machinery or effects excluded by this section from the
definiflon of trade machinery shall not be decined to be personal
chattels within the meaning of this Ordinance.
(4) Factory or workshop means any premises on which any
manual labour is exercised bv way of trade, or for purposes of
gain, in or incidental to the following purposesor any of them:-
(a) making any article or part of an article ; or
(b) altering, repairing, or finishing any. article; or
(c) adapting for sale any article.
6. every attoinment, instrinnent, or agreement, not being a
mining lease, whereby a power of distress is given or agreed to be
given by any person to any other person by way of security for
any present, future, or contingent debt or advance, and whereby
any rent is reserved or made payable as a mode of providing for
the payment of interest on such debt or advance, or otherwise for
the purpose of such security only, shall be deemed to be a bill of
sale, within the meaning of this Ordinance, of any personal chattels
which may be seized or taken under such power of distress:
Provided that nothing in this section shall extend to any mortgage
of any estate or interest In any land or tenement which the
mortgagee, being in possession, has domised to the mortgagor as
his tenant at a fair and reasonable rent.
7.-(1) No fixtures or growing crops shall be deemed, under this
Ordinance, to be separately assigned or charged by reason only
that they are assigned by separate words, or that power is given
to sever them from the land or building to which they are affixed,
or from the land on which they grow, without otherwise taking
possession of or,with such land or building, or land, if by
the same instrument any leasehold interest in the land or building
to which such fixtures are affixed, or in the land on which such
crops grow, is also conveyed or assigned to the same person.
(2) The same rule of construction shall be applied to all deeds
or instruments, including fixture or growing crops, executed before
the commencement of this Ordinance and then subsisting and in
force, in all questions arising under any bankruptcy, liquidation,
assignment for the benefit of creditors, or execution of any process
of any Court, which takes place or is issued after the commence-
ment of this Ordinance.
8. Every bill of sale, shall be duly attested and shall be registered
within 7 clear days after the execution thereof, or, if it is executed
in any place out of the Colony, then without 7 clear days after the
time at which it would, in the course of Post, arrive in the Colony
if posted immediately after the execution thereof, and shall truly
set forth the consideration for which it was given ; otherwise such
bill of sale shall be void in respect of the personal chattels comprised
therein.
9. Where a subsequent bill of sale is execoted within or on the
expiration of 7 days after the execution of a prior unregistered bill
of sale, and cmnprises all or part of personal chattels com-
prised in suhc prior bill of sale , then, if suhc subsequent bill of
sale is given as a security for the same debt as is secured by the prior
bill of sale or for any part of such debt, it shall, to the extent to
which it is a Security for the same debt or part thereof and so far as
respects the personal chattels or part thereof comprised in the
prior bill, be absolutely void, unless it is proved, to the satisfaction
of the Court having cognizance of the case, that the subsequent
bill of sale was bona. fide given for the purpose of correcting some
material error in the prior bill of sale, and not for the purpose of
evading this Ordinance.
10.-(1) A bill of sale shall be attested and registered under this
Ordinance in the following manner :-
. (a) the execution of the bill by the grantor shall bc attested by one
or more credible witness or witnesses, not beIng a party or parties .
thereto ;
(b) the bill, with every schedule or inventory thereto annexed or
therein, referred to, and also a true copy of the bill , and of every
such schedule or inventory, and of every attestation of the execution
of the bill, together with an affidavit of the time of the bill being
made or given and of its due execution and attestation, and a descrip-
tion of the residence and occupation of the person in making or giving
the same (or, in case the same is made or given by any person under
or in the execution of any process, then a description of the residence,
and occupation of the person against whom such process issued), and
of every attesting witness to the bill shall be presented to, and the
said copy and affidavit shall be filed with. the Register within 7
clear clays after the making or giving of the bill : and
(c) if the bill is made or given subject to any defeasance, condi-
tion, or declaration of trust not contained in the body thereof , such
defeasance, condition, or declaration shall be deemed to be part of
the bill, and shall be written on the same paper or parchment there
with before the registration , and shall be truly set forth in the copy
filed under this Ordinance therewith and as part thereof, otherwise
the registration shall be void.
(2) In case two or more bill of sale are given, comprising in whole
or in part any of the same chattels, they shall have priority in the
order of the date of their registration respectively as regards such
chattels.
(3) A transfer or assignment of a registered bill of sale need not be
registered.
11.-(1) The registration of a bill of sale must be renewed once
at least every 5 years, and if a period of 5 years elapses from the
registration or renewed registration of a bill of sale without a re-
0
newal or further renewal, as the case may be, the registration shall
become void.
(2) The renewal of a registration shall be effected by filing with
the Registrar an affidavit stating the date of the bill of sale and of the
last registration thereof, and the names, residences, and occupations
of the parties thereto as stated therein, wid thal the bill of sale is
still a subsisting security.
(3) Every such affidavit may be in the form 1 in the Ist schedule.
(4) A renewal of registration shall not become necessary by
reason only of a or assignment of a bill of sale.
12. Every bill of sale shall have annexed thereto or written there-
under a sehedule containing an inventory of the personal chattels
comprised in the bill of sale; and such bill of sale, save as hereinafter
mentioned, shall have effect only in respect of the personal chattels
specifically described in the said schedule, and shall be,void, except
as against the grantor , in respect of any personal chattels not so
specifically described.
13. Save as hereinafter mentioned, a bill of sale shall be void,
except as against the grantor, in respect of any personal chattels
specifically described lit the schedule thereto of which the grantor
was not the true owner at the time jof the execution of the bill of sale.
14. Nothing hereinbefore contained shall render a bill of sale void
in respect of any of the following things-
(1) any growing crops separately assigned or charged where such
crops were actually growing at the tline when the bill of sale
(2) any fixtures separately assigned or charged and any plant or
trade machinery where such fixtures, plant, or trade machinery are
or is used in, attached to, or brought upon any land, farm, factory,
workshop, shop, house, warehouse, or other place in substitution
for any of the like fixtures, plant, or trade machinery specifically
described in the schedule to such bill of sale.
15. Personal chattels assigned under a bill of sale shall not be
liable to be seized or taken possession of by the grantee for any
other than the following causes:-
(1) if the grantor makes default in payment of the sum or sums
of money thereby secured at the time therein provided for payment
or in the performance of any covenant or agreement contained in
the bill of sale and necessary for maintaining the security ; or
(2) if the grantor becomes a bankrupt or suffers the said goods
or any of them to be distrained for rent, rates, or taxes ; or
(3) if the grantor fraudulently either removes or suffers the said
goods or any of them to be removed from the premises ; or
(4) if the grantor does not, without reasonable excuse, upon
demand in writing by the grantee, produce to him his last receipts
for rent, rates, and taxes ; or
(5) if execution has been levied against the goods of the grantor
under any judgment at law:
Provided that the grantor may, within 5 days from the seizure or
taking possession of any chattels on account of any of the above-
mentioned causes, apply to the Court or judge hwo may , if satisfied
that, by payment of money or otherwise , the said cause of seizure
no longer exists, restrain the grantee from removing or selling the
said chattels or may make such offier order as may seem just.
16. A bill of sale made or given by way of security for the
payment of money by the grantor thereof shall be vold unless made
in accordance with the form 2 in the 1st schedule.
17. Every bill of sale made or given in consideration of any sum
under 150 dollars shall be void.
18. All personal chattels seized or of which possession is taken
under or by virtue of any bill of sale shall remain on the premises
where they were so seized or so taken possession of, and shall not
be removed or sold until after the expiration of 5 clear days from
the day they were so seized or so taken possession of.
19. A bill of sale to which this Ordinance applies shall be no
protection in respect of personal chattels included in such bill of
sale which, but for such bill of sale, would have been liable to
distress under a warrant or order for the recovery of rates and
taxes.
20.-(1)The Registrar shall keep a book (in this Ordinance
called 'the register') for the purposes of this Ordinance, and
Shall, on the filing of bill of sale, or copy under this Ordinance,
enter therein, in the form 3 in the Ist schedule or in any other
prescribed form, the name, residence, and occupation of the person
by whom the bill was made or given, or, in case the same was
made or given by any person under or in the execution of process,
them the name , residence,and occupation of the person. against
whom such process was Issued, and also the name of the person
to whom or in whose, favour tile bill was given, and the other
particulars shown in the said form or to be prescribed under this
ordinance, and shall all such bills registered in each year
consecutively, to the respective dates of their registration.
(2) On the registratlon of any affidavit of renewal, the like entry
shall be made, with the addition of the date and number of the
last previous entry relating to the same bill, and the bill of sale
or copy oniginally filed shall be thereupon marked with the number
affixed to such affidavit of renewal.
(3) The Registrar shall also keep an index of the names of the
grantors of registered bills of sale with reference to entries in the
register of the bills of sale given by each gralitor.
(4) Such Index shall be arranged in divisions corresponding with
the letters of the alphabet, so that all grantors whose surnames
begin with the same letter (and no others) shall be comprised in
one division, but the arragement within each such division need
21. A Judge on being satisfied that the omission to register a bill
of sale or an affidavit of renewal thereof within the time prescribed
by this Ordinance, or the, omission or misstatement of the name,
residence, or occupation of any person, was accidental or due to
inadvertence, may order such omission or misstatement to be recti-
fied by the insertion in the register of the true name, residence,
or occupation, or by extending the time for such registration, on
such terms and conditions, if any, as to security, notice by ad-
vertisement or otherwise, or as to any other matter, as he thinks
fit to direct.
22. Subject to and in accordance with any rules to be made
tho this ordinance, the registrar may order a memorandum of
satisfaction to be written upon any registered copy of a bill of sale,
on the preseribed evidence being, given that the debt, if any, for
which such bill of sale was made or given has been satisfied or
discharged.
23.-(1) Any person shall be entitled to have an office copy or
extract of any registered bill of sale and affidavit of execution filed
therewith, or copy thereof , and of any affidavit filed therewith , or
registered affidavit of renewal, on paying for the same at the like
rate as for office copies of judgments of the Supreme court.
(2) Any copy of a register bill of sale, and affidavit purporting
to be an office copy thereof, shall, in all Courts and before all
arbitrators or other persons, be admitted as prima facic evidence
thereof and of the fact and date of registration as shown thereon.
(3) Any person shall be entitled at all reasonable times to search
the register on payment of a fee of 25 cents , subject to such regula-
tions as may be prescribed, and shall be entitled at all reasonable,
times to inspect, examine, and make extract from any and every
registered bill of sale, without being required to make a written.
application or to specify any particulars in reference thereto, on
payment of a fee of 25 cents for each bill of sale inspected:
Provided that the said extracts shall be limited to lhe dates of
execution, registration, renewal of registration, and satisfaction, to
the names, addresses and occupations of the parties, to the amount
of the consideration, and to any further particulars prescribed by
any rules made under this ordinance.
24. Every person who wilfully makes or uses any false affidavit
or declaration for the porposes fo this ordinance shall be deemed
guilty of wilful and perjury .
25. The fees mentioned in the 2nd schedule and such other fees
as may be hereafter prescribed, shall be paid to the Registrar.
26-(1) Rules for the purposes of this Ordinance may be made
by the like persons and in the the manner in which rules may be
made under the Supreme Court Ordinance, I873.
(2) Until altered, added to,or annulled , the rules contained in
the 3rd schedule shall be the rules umder this ordinance.
27, When the time for registering bill of sale expires on a
Sunday or other day on which the offices of the Snpreme Court
are closed, such registration shall be valid if made on the next
following day on which the offices are open.
28. Nothing in this Ordinance sball apply to any debentures
issued by ally mortgoge, loan, or other incorporated company and
secured upon the capital, stock, or goods, chattels, and effects of
such company.
FIRST SCHEDULE.
FORM No. 1. [s.11.]
affidavit of renewal.
I,A.B. of do swear that a bill of sale , bearing date the day
of 19 , and made between [insert names and descriptions of the parties
in the original bill of sale ] and which said bill of sale[ or and a copy of which said bill
of sale , as the case may be ] was registered on the day of 19, in
still a subsisting security .
Sworn , &c.
FORM no. 2. [s. 16.]
Bill of sale .
This Indenture made the day of 19, between A.B, of
of the one part and C.D., of of the other part, witnesseth that, in considera-
tion of the sum of $ now paid ho A.B. by C.D., the receipt of which sum the
said A.B. hereby acknowledges [or whatever else the consideration may be], be, the said
A.B. doth hereby assign unto C.D., his executors, administrators, and assigns, all and
singular the several chattels and thing specifically deseribed in the schedule hereto
annexed by way of security for the payment of the sum of $ and interest
thereon at the rate of per cent per annum [or whatever else may be the rate].
And the said A.B. doth further agree and declare that he will duly pay to the said C.D.
the principal sum) aforesaid, with the interest then due, by equal payments
of $ on the day of 19 , [or whatever else lway be the
stipulated time or payment ]. and the said A.B doth also agree with the said
C.D. that he will [here insert term as insurance, payment of rent , or Otherwise , which
the parties may agree to for the maintenace or defeasance of the security]. Provided
always that the chattels hereby assigned shall not be liable to seizure or to be taken
possession of by the said C.D. for any cause other than those specified in section 15 of
the Bills of Sale Ordinance, 1886.
In witness, etc.
Signed and sealed by the said A.B. in the presence of me, E.F.
[add witness's name, address, and description].
Form no. 3. [s, 20.]
Register.
SECOND SCHEDULE.
TAPLE of fees. [s. 25. ]
1. On filing a bill of sale .......................................$0.50
2. On filing the affidavit of execution of a bill of sale ............0.50
3. On the affidavit used for the purpose of re-registering a bill
of sale (to include the fee for filing) . ... .........1.25
4. For an official certificate of the result of a search in one
name in any register or index under the custody of the
Registrar of bills of sale . .........1.25
For every additional name, if included in the same certi-
ficate ...............................0.50
6. For a duplicate copy or certificate, if not more than 3 folios 0.25
7. For every additional folio ........0.12
8. For a continuation search, if made within 14 days of the
date of the official certificate, (the result to be indorsed
on the certificate......... 0.25
THIRD SCHEDULE.
Rules. [s. 26.]
1. A memorandum of satisfaction may be ordered to be written
upon a registered copy of a bill of sale on a consent to the satisfac-
tion, signed by the person entitled to the beriefit of thp bill of sale,
and verified by affidavit being produced to the Registrar and filed
in the Supreme Court.
2. Where this consent cannot be obtained , the registrar may, on
application by summons, and on hearing the person entitled to the
benefit of the bill of sale or on affidavit of service of the summons
on that person, and in either case on proof, to the satisfaction of
the Registrar, that the debt, if any , for which the bill of sale was
made has been satisfied or discharged, order a memorandurm of
satisfaction to be written upon a registered cop thereof.
3. If the attesting witness and duponent is a solicitor, and described
as such, the entry of the satisfaction will he directed by the Registrar
(the papers being, otherwise correct) as of course; but under special
circumstances the Registrar may accept any other deponent, if
satisfied that he is a proper person to attest and verify the signature
and consent.
Short title. Interpretation of terms [41 & 42 Vict.c. 31 s. 4.] [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s. 3.] [41 & 42 Vict.c. 31 s.4.] Application of the Ordinance. [ib.s.3.] Application of the Ordinance to trade machinery. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s. 5.] Certain instrument giving power of distress to be subject to the Ordinance. [ib.s.6.] Fixtures or growing crops not to be deemed separately assigned when the land passes by same instrument. [41 & 42 Vict.c. 31 s.7.] Avoidance of bill of sale unless attested and registered. [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.8.] Avoidance of certain duplicate bill of sale. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.9.] Mode of registering bill of sale. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.10; 45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.10.] Renewal of registration [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.11.] Bill of sale to have schedule of property attached. [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.4.] Bill of sale not to affect after-acquired property. [ib.s.5.] Exception as to certain things. [ib.s.6.] Limitation of causes of seizure. [ib.s.7.] Form of bill of sale. [45 & 46 Vict.c. 43 s.9.] Avoidance of bill of sale under $150. [ib.s.12.] Rule as to situation and sale of chattels. [ib.s.13.] Bill of sale not to protect chattels against rates and taxes. [ib.s.14.] Form of register. [41 & 42 Vict. c. 31 s.12.] Rectification of register. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s. 14.] Entry of satisfaction. [ib.s.15.] Right to have copies. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.16.] [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s. 16.] Affidavits. Fees. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.18.] Making of rules [ib.s.21.] No. 3 of 1873. Time of registration. [ib.s.22.] Exclusion of certain debentures. [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.17.] Fees. Memorandum of satisfaction of bill of sale. [R.S.C.O. 61 r.26.] Order for memorandum of satisfaction of bill of sale. [ib.r.27.] Rule where attesting witness in a solicitor. [Practice Rules. 1884, r. 14.]
To consolidate and amend the law for preventing Frauds upon
Creditors by secret Bills of Sale of personal chattels.
[12th July, 1886.]
1. The Bills of Sale ordinance,
2.'Bill of sale ' includes bills of sale, assignments, transfers,
declarations of trust without transfer, inventories of goods with
receipt thereto attached, or receipts for purchase moneys of goods,
and other assurances of personal chattels, and also powers of
attorney, authorities, or licences to take possession of personal
chattels as security for any debt, and also any agreement, whether
intended or not to he followed by the execution of any other instru-
ment, by which a right in equity to any personal chattels, or to
any charge or security thereon, is conferred, but does not include
the following documents : that is to say, assignments for the benefit
of the creditors of the person making or giving the same, marriage
settlements, transfers or assignments of any ship or vessel or any
share thereof, transfers of goods in the ordinary course of business
of any trade or calling, bills of sale of goods in foreign parts or at
sea, bills of lading, India warrants, warehousekeepers' certificates,
warrants or orders for the delivery of goods, or any other docu-
ments used in the ordinnry course of business as proof on the
possession or control of goods, or authorising or purporting to
authorise, either by indorsement or by delivery, the possessor of
such document to transfer or receive goods thereby represented :
Provided always that in the construction of sections 8, 10 (1), 12
to 19, and 23, the said expression does not include bills of sale or
other instruments hereinbefore mentioned which may be given
otherwise than by way of security for the payment of money :
' Personal chattels' means goods, furniture, and other articles
capable of complete transfer delivery, and (when separately
assigned or charged) fixtures and growing crops, but does not in-
clude fixtures (except trade machinery as hereinafter defined) when
assigned together with any interest in any land or building to
which they are affixed, or growing crops when assigned together
with any interest in the land on which they grow, or shares or
interests in the stock, funds, or securities of any Government or
in the capital or property of incorporated or joint stock companies,
or choses in action, or any stock or produce upon any farm or
lands which, by virtre of any covenant or agreement, ought not
to be removed from any farm where the same are at the time of
making or giving of such bill of sale.
Personal chattels shall be deemed to be in the apparent posses-
sion of the person making or giving a bill of sale, so long as they
remain or are in or unpon any house, mill, warehouse, building,
works, yard, land, or other premises occupied by him or are used
and enjoyed by him in any place whatsoever, notwithstanding that
formal possession thereof may have been taken by or given to any
other person:
' The Registrar ' means the Registrar of the Supreme Court:
' Prescribed ' means prescribed by rules made under the pro-
visions of this Ordinance.
2. This Ordinance shall apply to every bill of sale (whether the
salne is absolute or subject or not subject to any trust), whereby
the holder or grantee has power, either with or without notice and
either immediately or at any future time, to seize or take possession
of any personal chattels within the Colony comprised in or made
subject to such bill of sale.
[s, 4, rep. No. 62 of 1911.]
5.-(1) Trade machinery shall, for the purposes of tbis Ordi-
nance, be deemed to be personal chattels, and any mode of
disposition of trade machinery by the owner thereof which would
be a bill of sale as to any other personal chattels shall be deemed
to be a bill of sale within the meanings of this Ordinance.
(2) For the purposes of this Ordinance, trade machinery means
the machinery used in or ,attached to any factory or workshop-
Ist. exclusive of the fixed motive-powers, such as the water-
wheels and steam engines, and the steam-boiler , donkey engines,
and other fixed appurtenances of the said motive-powers; and
2nd. exclusive of the fixed power machinery, such as the shafts,
wheels, drums, and their fixed purtenances, which transmit the
action of the motive powers to the other machinery, fixed and loose
and
3rd. exclusive of the pipes for steam, gas, and water in the
factory or workshop.
(3) The machinery or effects excluded by this section from the
definiflon of trade machinery shall not be decined to be personal
chattels within the meaning of this Ordinance.
(4) Factory or workshop means any premises on which any
manual labour is exercised bv way of trade, or for purposes of
gain, in or incidental to the following purposesor any of them:-
(a) making any article or part of an article ; or
(b) altering, repairing, or finishing any. article; or
(c) adapting for sale any article.
6. every attoinment, instrinnent, or agreement, not being a
mining lease, whereby a power of distress is given or agreed to be
given by any person to any other person by way of security for
any present, future, or contingent debt or advance, and whereby
any rent is reserved or made payable as a mode of providing for
the payment of interest on such debt or advance, or otherwise for
the purpose of such security only, shall be deemed to be a bill of
sale, within the meaning of this Ordinance, of any personal chattels
which may be seized or taken under such power of distress:
Provided that nothing in this section shall extend to any mortgage
of any estate or interest In any land or tenement which the
mortgagee, being in possession, has domised to the mortgagor as
his tenant at a fair and reasonable rent.
7.-(1) No fixtures or growing crops shall be deemed, under this
Ordinance, to be separately assigned or charged by reason only
that they are assigned by separate words, or that power is given
to sever them from the land or building to which they are affixed,
or from the land on which they grow, without otherwise taking
possession of or,with such land or building, or land, if by
the same instrument any leasehold interest in the land or building
to which such fixtures are affixed, or in the land on which such
crops grow, is also conveyed or assigned to the same person.
(2) The same rule of construction shall be applied to all deeds
or instruments, including fixture or growing crops, executed before
the commencement of this Ordinance and then subsisting and in
force, in all questions arising under any bankruptcy, liquidation,
assignment for the benefit of creditors, or execution of any process
of any Court, which takes place or is issued after the commence-
ment of this Ordinance.
8. Every bill of sale, shall be duly attested and shall be registered
within 7 clear days after the execution thereof, or, if it is executed
in any place out of the Colony, then without 7 clear days after the
time at which it would, in the course of Post, arrive in the Colony
if posted immediately after the execution thereof, and shall truly
set forth the consideration for which it was given ; otherwise such
bill of sale shall be void in respect of the personal chattels comprised
therein.
9. Where a subsequent bill of sale is execoted within or on the
expiration of 7 days after the execution of a prior unregistered bill
of sale, and cmnprises all or part of personal chattels com-
prised in suhc prior bill of sale , then, if suhc subsequent bill of
sale is given as a security for the same debt as is secured by the prior
bill of sale or for any part of such debt, it shall, to the extent to
which it is a Security for the same debt or part thereof and so far as
respects the personal chattels or part thereof comprised in the
prior bill, be absolutely void, unless it is proved, to the satisfaction
of the Court having cognizance of the case, that the subsequent
bill of sale was bona. fide given for the purpose of correcting some
material error in the prior bill of sale, and not for the purpose of
evading this Ordinance.
10.-(1) A bill of sale shall be attested and registered under this
Ordinance in the following manner :-
. (a) the execution of the bill by the grantor shall bc attested by one
or more credible witness or witnesses, not beIng a party or parties .
thereto ;
(b) the bill, with every schedule or inventory thereto annexed or
therein, referred to, and also a true copy of the bill , and of every
such schedule or inventory, and of every attestation of the execution
of the bill, together with an affidavit of the time of the bill being
made or given and of its due execution and attestation, and a descrip-
tion of the residence and occupation of the person in making or giving
the same (or, in case the same is made or given by any person under
or in the execution of any process, then a description of the residence,
and occupation of the person against whom such process issued), and
of every attesting witness to the bill shall be presented to, and the
said copy and affidavit shall be filed with. the Register within 7
clear clays after the making or giving of the bill : and
(c) if the bill is made or given subject to any defeasance, condi-
tion, or declaration of trust not contained in the body thereof , such
defeasance, condition, or declaration shall be deemed to be part of
the bill, and shall be written on the same paper or parchment there
with before the registration , and shall be truly set forth in the copy
filed under this Ordinance therewith and as part thereof, otherwise
the registration shall be void.
(2) In case two or more bill of sale are given, comprising in whole
or in part any of the same chattels, they shall have priority in the
order of the date of their registration respectively as regards such
chattels.
(3) A transfer or assignment of a registered bill of sale need not be
registered.
11.-(1) The registration of a bill of sale must be renewed once
at least every 5 years, and if a period of 5 years elapses from the
registration or renewed registration of a bill of sale without a re-
0
newal or further renewal, as the case may be, the registration shall
become void.
(2) The renewal of a registration shall be effected by filing with
the Registrar an affidavit stating the date of the bill of sale and of the
last registration thereof, and the names, residences, and occupations
of the parties thereto as stated therein, wid thal the bill of sale is
still a subsisting security.
(3) Every such affidavit may be in the form 1 in the Ist schedule.
(4) A renewal of registration shall not become necessary by
reason only of a or assignment of a bill of sale.
12. Every bill of sale shall have annexed thereto or written there-
under a sehedule containing an inventory of the personal chattels
comprised in the bill of sale; and such bill of sale, save as hereinafter
mentioned, shall have effect only in respect of the personal chattels
specifically described in the said schedule, and shall be,void, except
as against the grantor , in respect of any personal chattels not so
specifically described.
13. Save as hereinafter mentioned, a bill of sale shall be void,
except as against the grantor, in respect of any personal chattels
specifically described lit the schedule thereto of which the grantor
was not the true owner at the time jof the execution of the bill of sale.
14. Nothing hereinbefore contained shall render a bill of sale void
in respect of any of the following things-
(1) any growing crops separately assigned or charged where such
crops were actually growing at the tline when the bill of sale
(2) any fixtures separately assigned or charged and any plant or
trade machinery where such fixtures, plant, or trade machinery are
or is used in, attached to, or brought upon any land, farm, factory,
workshop, shop, house, warehouse, or other place in substitution
for any of the like fixtures, plant, or trade machinery specifically
described in the schedule to such bill of sale.
15. Personal chattels assigned under a bill of sale shall not be
liable to be seized or taken possession of by the grantee for any
other than the following causes:-
(1) if the grantor makes default in payment of the sum or sums
of money thereby secured at the time therein provided for payment
or in the performance of any covenant or agreement contained in
the bill of sale and necessary for maintaining the security ; or
(2) if the grantor becomes a bankrupt or suffers the said goods
or any of them to be distrained for rent, rates, or taxes ; or
(3) if the grantor fraudulently either removes or suffers the said
goods or any of them to be removed from the premises ; or
(4) if the grantor does not, without reasonable excuse, upon
demand in writing by the grantee, produce to him his last receipts
for rent, rates, and taxes ; or
(5) if execution has been levied against the goods of the grantor
under any judgment at law:
Provided that the grantor may, within 5 days from the seizure or
taking possession of any chattels on account of any of the above-
mentioned causes, apply to the Court or judge hwo may , if satisfied
that, by payment of money or otherwise , the said cause of seizure
no longer exists, restrain the grantee from removing or selling the
said chattels or may make such offier order as may seem just.
16. A bill of sale made or given by way of security for the
payment of money by the grantor thereof shall be vold unless made
in accordance with the form 2 in the 1st schedule.
17. Every bill of sale made or given in consideration of any sum
under 150 dollars shall be void.
18. All personal chattels seized or of which possession is taken
under or by virtue of any bill of sale shall remain on the premises
where they were so seized or so taken possession of, and shall not
be removed or sold until after the expiration of 5 clear days from
the day they were so seized or so taken possession of.
19. A bill of sale to which this Ordinance applies shall be no
protection in respect of personal chattels included in such bill of
sale which, but for such bill of sale, would have been liable to
distress under a warrant or order for the recovery of rates and
taxes.
20.-(1)The Registrar shall keep a book (in this Ordinance
called 'the register') for the purposes of this Ordinance, and
Shall, on the filing of bill of sale, or copy under this Ordinance,
enter therein, in the form 3 in the Ist schedule or in any other
prescribed form, the name, residence, and occupation of the person
by whom the bill was made or given, or, in case the same was
made or given by any person under or in the execution of process,
them the name , residence,and occupation of the person. against
whom such process was Issued, and also the name of the person
to whom or in whose, favour tile bill was given, and the other
particulars shown in the said form or to be prescribed under this
ordinance, and shall all such bills registered in each year
consecutively, to the respective dates of their registration.
(2) On the registratlon of any affidavit of renewal, the like entry
shall be made, with the addition of the date and number of the
last previous entry relating to the same bill, and the bill of sale
or copy oniginally filed shall be thereupon marked with the number
affixed to such affidavit of renewal.
(3) The Registrar shall also keep an index of the names of the
grantors of registered bills of sale with reference to entries in the
register of the bills of sale given by each gralitor.
(4) Such Index shall be arranged in divisions corresponding with
the letters of the alphabet, so that all grantors whose surnames
begin with the same letter (and no others) shall be comprised in
one division, but the arragement within each such division need
21. A Judge on being satisfied that the omission to register a bill
of sale or an affidavit of renewal thereof within the time prescribed
by this Ordinance, or the, omission or misstatement of the name,
residence, or occupation of any person, was accidental or due to
inadvertence, may order such omission or misstatement to be recti-
fied by the insertion in the register of the true name, residence,
or occupation, or by extending the time for such registration, on
such terms and conditions, if any, as to security, notice by ad-
vertisement or otherwise, or as to any other matter, as he thinks
fit to direct.
22. Subject to and in accordance with any rules to be made
tho this ordinance, the registrar may order a memorandum of
satisfaction to be written upon any registered copy of a bill of sale,
on the preseribed evidence being, given that the debt, if any, for
which such bill of sale was made or given has been satisfied or
discharged.
23.-(1) Any person shall be entitled to have an office copy or
extract of any registered bill of sale and affidavit of execution filed
therewith, or copy thereof , and of any affidavit filed therewith , or
registered affidavit of renewal, on paying for the same at the like
rate as for office copies of judgments of the Supreme court.
(2) Any copy of a register bill of sale, and affidavit purporting
to be an office copy thereof, shall, in all Courts and before all
arbitrators or other persons, be admitted as prima facic evidence
thereof and of the fact and date of registration as shown thereon.
(3) Any person shall be entitled at all reasonable times to search
the register on payment of a fee of 25 cents , subject to such regula-
tions as may be prescribed, and shall be entitled at all reasonable,
times to inspect, examine, and make extract from any and every
registered bill of sale, without being required to make a written.
application or to specify any particulars in reference thereto, on
payment of a fee of 25 cents for each bill of sale inspected:
Provided that the said extracts shall be limited to lhe dates of
execution, registration, renewal of registration, and satisfaction, to
the names, addresses and occupations of the parties, to the amount
of the consideration, and to any further particulars prescribed by
any rules made under this ordinance.
24. Every person who wilfully makes or uses any false affidavit
or declaration for the porposes fo this ordinance shall be deemed
guilty of wilful and perjury .
25. The fees mentioned in the 2nd schedule and such other fees
as may be hereafter prescribed, shall be paid to the Registrar.
26-(1) Rules for the purposes of this Ordinance may be made
by the like persons and in the the manner in which rules may be
made under the Supreme Court Ordinance, I873.
(2) Until altered, added to,or annulled , the rules contained in
the 3rd schedule shall be the rules umder this ordinance.
27, When the time for registering bill of sale expires on a
Sunday or other day on which the offices of the Snpreme Court
are closed, such registration shall be valid if made on the next
following day on which the offices are open.
28. Nothing in this Ordinance sball apply to any debentures
issued by ally mortgoge, loan, or other incorporated company and
secured upon the capital, stock, or goods, chattels, and effects of
such company.
FIRST SCHEDULE.
FORM No. 1. [s.11.]
affidavit of renewal.
I,A.B. of do swear that a bill of sale , bearing date the day
of 19 , and made between [insert names and descriptions of the parties
in the original bill of sale ] and which said bill of sale[ or and a copy of which said bill
of sale , as the case may be ] was registered on the day of 19, in
still a subsisting security .
Sworn , &c.
FORM no. 2. [s. 16.]
Bill of sale .
This Indenture made the day of 19, between A.B, of
of the one part and C.D., of of the other part, witnesseth that, in considera-
tion of the sum of $ now paid ho A.B. by C.D., the receipt of which sum the
said A.B. hereby acknowledges [or whatever else the consideration may be], be, the said
A.B. doth hereby assign unto C.D., his executors, administrators, and assigns, all and
singular the several chattels and thing specifically deseribed in the schedule hereto
annexed by way of security for the payment of the sum of $ and interest
thereon at the rate of per cent per annum [or whatever else may be the rate].
And the said A.B. doth further agree and declare that he will duly pay to the said C.D.
the principal sum) aforesaid, with the interest then due, by equal payments
of $ on the day of 19 , [or whatever else lway be the
stipulated time or payment ]. and the said A.B doth also agree with the said
C.D. that he will [here insert term as insurance, payment of rent , or Otherwise , which
the parties may agree to for the maintenace or defeasance of the security]. Provided
always that the chattels hereby assigned shall not be liable to seizure or to be taken
possession of by the said C.D. for any cause other than those specified in section 15 of
the Bills of Sale Ordinance, 1886.
In witness, etc.
Signed and sealed by the said A.B. in the presence of me, E.F.
[add witness's name, address, and description].
Form no. 3. [s, 20.]
Register.
SECOND SCHEDULE.
TAPLE of fees. [s. 25. ]
1. On filing a bill of sale .......................................$0.50
2. On filing the affidavit of execution of a bill of sale ............0.50
3. On the affidavit used for the purpose of re-registering a bill
of sale (to include the fee for filing) . ... .........1.25
4. For an official certificate of the result of a search in one
name in any register or index under the custody of the
Registrar of bills of sale . .........1.25
For every additional name, if included in the same certi-
ficate ...............................0.50
6. For a duplicate copy or certificate, if not more than 3 folios 0.25
7. For every additional folio ........0.12
8. For a continuation search, if made within 14 days of the
date of the official certificate, (the result to be indorsed
on the certificate......... 0.25
THIRD SCHEDULE.
Rules. [s. 26.]
1. A memorandum of satisfaction may be ordered to be written
upon a registered copy of a bill of sale on a consent to the satisfac-
tion, signed by the person entitled to the beriefit of thp bill of sale,
and verified by affidavit being produced to the Registrar and filed
in the Supreme Court.
2. Where this consent cannot be obtained , the registrar may, on
application by summons, and on hearing the person entitled to the
benefit of the bill of sale or on affidavit of service of the summons
on that person, and in either case on proof, to the satisfaction of
the Registrar, that the debt, if any , for which the bill of sale was
made has been satisfied or discharged, order a memorandurm of
satisfaction to be written upon a registered cop thereof.
3. If the attesting witness and duponent is a solicitor, and described
as such, the entry of the satisfaction will he directed by the Registrar
(the papers being, otherwise correct) as of course; but under special
circumstances the Registrar may accept any other deponent, if
satisfied that he is a proper person to attest and verify the signature
and consent.
Short title. Interpretation of terms [41 & 42 Vict.c. 31 s. 4.] [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s. 3.] [41 & 42 Vict.c. 31 s.4.] Application of the Ordinance. [ib.s.3.] Application of the Ordinance to trade machinery. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s. 5.] Certain instrument giving power of distress to be subject to the Ordinance. [ib.s.6.] Fixtures or growing crops not to be deemed separately assigned when the land passes by same instrument. [41 & 42 Vict.c. 31 s.7.] Avoidance of bill of sale unless attested and registered. [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.8.] Avoidance of certain duplicate bill of sale. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.9.] Mode of registering bill of sale. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.10; 45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.10.] Renewal of registration [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.11.] Bill of sale to have schedule of property attached. [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.4.] Bill of sale not to affect after-acquired property. [ib.s.5.] Exception as to certain things. [ib.s.6.] Limitation of causes of seizure. [ib.s.7.] Form of bill of sale. [45 & 46 Vict.c. 43 s.9.] Avoidance of bill of sale under $150. [ib.s.12.] Rule as to situation and sale of chattels. [ib.s.13.] Bill of sale not to protect chattels against rates and taxes. [ib.s.14.] Form of register. [41 & 42 Vict. c. 31 s.12.] Rectification of register. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s. 14.] Entry of satisfaction. [ib.s.15.] Right to have copies. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.16.] [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s. 16.] Affidavits. Fees. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.18.] Making of rules [ib.s.21.] No. 3 of 1873. Time of registration. [ib.s.22.] Exclusion of certain debentures. [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.17.] Fees. Memorandum of satisfaction of bill of sale. [R.S.C.O. 61 r.26.] Order for memorandum of satisfaction of bill of sale. [ib.r.27.] Rule where attesting witness in a solicitor. [Practice Rules. 1884, r. 14.]
Abstract
Short title. Interpretation of terms [41 & 42 Vict.c. 31 s. 4.] [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s. 3.] [41 & 42 Vict.c. 31 s.4.] Application of the Ordinance. [ib.s.3.] Application of the Ordinance to trade machinery. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s. 5.] Certain instrument giving power of distress to be subject to the Ordinance. [ib.s.6.] Fixtures or growing crops not to be deemed separately assigned when the land passes by same instrument. [41 & 42 Vict.c. 31 s.7.] Avoidance of bill of sale unless attested and registered. [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.8.] Avoidance of certain duplicate bill of sale. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.9.] Mode of registering bill of sale. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.10; 45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.10.] Renewal of registration [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.11.] Bill of sale to have schedule of property attached. [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.4.] Bill of sale not to affect after-acquired property. [ib.s.5.] Exception as to certain things. [ib.s.6.] Limitation of causes of seizure. [ib.s.7.] Form of bill of sale. [45 & 46 Vict.c. 43 s.9.] Avoidance of bill of sale under $150. [ib.s.12.] Rule as to situation and sale of chattels. [ib.s.13.] Bill of sale not to protect chattels against rates and taxes. [ib.s.14.] Form of register. [41 & 42 Vict. c. 31 s.12.] Rectification of register. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s. 14.] Entry of satisfaction. [ib.s.15.] Right to have copies. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.16.] [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s. 16.] Affidavits. Fees. [41 & 42 Vict.c.31 s.18.] Making of rules [ib.s.21.] No. 3 of 1873. Time of registration. [ib.s.22.] Exclusion of certain debentures. [45 & 46 Vict.c.43 s.17.] Fees. Memorandum of satisfaction of bill of sale. [R.S.C.O. 61 r.26.] Order for memorandum of satisfaction of bill of sale. [ib.r.27.] Rule where attesting witness in a solicitor. [Practice Rules. 1884, r. 14.]
Identifier
https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/824
Edition
1912
Volume
v1
Subsequent Cap No.
20
Cap / Ordinance No.
No. 7 of 1886
Number of Pages
11
Files
Collection
Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online
Citation
“BILLS OF SALE ORDINANCE, 1886,” Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online, accessed November 23, 2024, https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/824.
