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BANKRUPT Definition & Legal Meaning

Definition & Citations:

A person who has committed an act of bankruptcy; one who has done some act or suffered some act to be done in consequence of which, under the laws of his country, he is liable to be proceeded against by his creditors for the seizure and distribution among them of his entire property. Ashby v. Steere, 2 Woodb. & M. 347, 2 Fed. Cas. 15; In re Scott, 21 Fed. Cas. 803; U. S. v. Pusey, 27 Fed. Cas. G32. A trader who secretes himself or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors. 2 Bl. Comm. 471. In a looser sense, an insolvent person; a broken-up or ruined trader. Everett v. Stone, 3 Story, 453, Fed. Cas. No. 4,577. A person who, by the formal decree of a court, has been declared subject to be proceeded against under the bankruptcy laws, or entitled, on his voluntary application, to take the benefit of such laws.

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