(1)The winding up of a company may be either—
(a)by the court; or
(b)voluntary; or
(c)subject to the supervision of the court.
(2)The provisions of this Act with respect to winding up apply, unless the contrary appears, to the winding up of a company in any of those modes.
(1)In the event of a company being wound up, every present and past member shall be liable to contribute to the assets of the company, to an amount sufficient for payment of its debts and liabilities, and the costs, charges and expenses of the winding up, and for the adjustment of the rights of the contributories among themselves, subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section and the following qualifications:—
(a)a past member shall not be liable to contribute if he has ceased to be a member for one year or upwards before the commencement of the winding up;
(b)a past member shall not be liable to contribute in respect of any debt or liability of the company contracted after he ceased to be a member;
(c)a past member shall not be liable to contribute unless it appears to the court that the existing members are unable to satisfy the contributions required to be made by them in pursuance of this Act;
(d)in the case of a company limited by shares, no contribution shall be required from any member exceeding the amount, if any, unpaid on the shares in respect of which he is liable as a present or past member;
(e)in the case of a company limited by guarantee, no contribution shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, be required from any member exceeding the amount undertaken to be contributed by him to the assets of the company in the event of its being wound up;
(f)nothing in this Act shall invalidate any provision contained in any policy of insurance or other contract whereby the liability of individual members on the policy or contract is restricted, or whereby the funds of the company are alone made liable in respect of the policy or contract;
(g)a sum due to any member of a company, in his character of a member, by way of dividends, profits or otherwise shall not be deemed to be a debt of the company, payable to that member in a case of competition between himself and any other creditor not a member of the company, but any such sum may be taken into account for the purpose of the final adjustment of the rights of the contributories among themselves.
(2)In the winding up of a limited company, any director or manager, whether past or present, whose liability is, under the provisions of this Act, unlimited, shall, in addition to his liability (if any) to contribute as an ordinary member, be liable to make a further contribution as if he were at the commencement of the winding up a member of an unlimited company:
Provided that—
(a)a past director or manager shall not be liable to make such further contribution if he has ceased to hold office for a year or upwards before the commencement of the winding up;
(b)a past director or manager shall not be liable to make such further contribution in respect of any debt or liability of the company contracted after he ceased to hold office;
(c)subject to the articles of the company, a director or manager shall not be liable to make such further contribution unless the court deems it necessary to require that contribution in order to satisfy the debts and liabilities of the company and the costs, charges and expenses of the winding up.
(3)In the winding up of a company limited by guarantee which has a share capital, every member of the company shall be liable, in addition to the amount undertaken to be contributed by him to the assets of the company in the event of its being wound up, to contribute to the extent of any sums unpaid on any shares held by him.
The term “contributory ” means every person liable to contribute to the assets of a company in the event of its being wound up, and for the purposes of all proceedings for determining, and all proceedings prior to the final determination of, the persons who are to be deemed contributories, includes any person alleged to be a contributory.
The liability of a contributory shall create a debt (in England of the nature of a specialty) accruing due from him at the time when his liability commenced, but payable at the times when calls are made for enforcing the liability.
(1)If a contributory dies either before or after he has been placed on the list of contributories, his personal representatives, and the heirs and legatees of heritage of his heritable estate in Scotland, shall be liable in a due course of administration to contribute to the assets of the company in discharge of his liability and shall be contributories accordingly.
(2)Where the personal representatives are placed on the list of contributories, the heirs or legatees of heritage need not be added, but they may be added as and when the court thinks fit.
(3)If in England the personal representatives make default in paying any money ordered to be paid by them, proceedings may be taken for administering the estate of the deceased contributory and for compelling payment thereout of the money due.
If a contributory becomes bankrupt, either before or after he has been placed on the list of contributories,—
(a)his trustee in bankruptcy shall represent him for all the purposes of the winding up, and shall be a contributory accordingly, and may be called on to admit to proof against the estate of the bankrupt, or otherwise to allow to be paid out of his assets in due course of law, any money due from the bankrupt in respect of his liability to contribute to the assets of the company; and
(b)there may be proved against the estate of the bankrupt the estimated value of his liability to future calls as well as calls already made.
(1)The husband of a female contributory married before the date of the commencement of the [45 & 46 Vict. c. 75.] Married Women's Property Act, 1882, or the [44 & 45 Vict. c. 21.] Married Women's Property (Scotland) Act, 1881, as the case may be, shall, during the continuance of the marriage, be liable, as respects any liability attaching to any shares acquired by her before that date, to contribute to the assets of the company the same sum as she would have been liable to contribute if she had not married, and he shall be a contributory accordingly.
(2)Subject as aforesaid, nothing in this Act shall affect the provisions of the Married' Women's Property Act, 1882, or the Married Women's Property (Scotland) Act, 1881.
(1)The High Court shall have jurisdiction to wind up any company registered in England.
(2)In the case of a company whose registered office is situate within the jurisdiction of the Chancery Court of the County Palatine of Lancaster or the Chancery Court of the County Palatine of Durham, the palatine court shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the High Court to wind up the company.
(3)Where the amount of the share capital of a company paid up or credited as paid up does not exceed ten thousand pounds, the county court of the district in which the registered office of the company is situate shall, subject to the provisions of this section, have concurrent jurisdiction with the High Court to wind up the company.
(4)Where a company is formed for working mines within the stannaries and is not shown to be working mines beyond the limits of the stannaries or to be engaged in any other undertaking beyond those limits, or to have entered into a contract for such working or undertaking, the court exercising the stannaries jurisdiction shall, whatever may-be the amount of the capital of the Company and wherever the registered office of the company is situate, have concurrent jurisdiction with the High Court to wind up the company.
(5)The Lord Chancellor may by order made by statutory instrument exclude a county court from having jurisdiction under this Act, and for the purposes of that jurisdiction may attach its district, or any part thereof, to any other county court, and may by statutory instrument revoke or vary any such order.
In exercising his powers under this section, the Lord Chancellor shall provide that a county court shall not have jurisdiction under this Act unless it has for the time being jurisdiction in bankruptcy.
An order made under this provision shall not affect any jurisdiction or powers vested in any county court under or by virtue of the [59 & 60 Vict. c. 45.] Stannaries Court (Abolition) Act, 1896.
(6)Every court in England having jurisdiction under this Act to wind up a company shall for the purposes of that jurisdiction have all the powers of the High Court, and every prescribed officer of the court shall perform any duties which an officer of the High Court may discharge by order of the judge thereof or otherwise in relation to the winding up of a company.
(7)Nothing in this section shall invalidate a proceeding by reason of its being taken in a wrong court.
(8)For the purposes of this section, the expression “registered office ” means the place which has longest been the registered office of the company during the six months immediately preceding the presentation of the petition for winding up.
(1)The winding up of a company by the court in England or any proceedings in the winding up may at any time and at any stage, and either with or without application from any of the parties thereto, be transferred from' one court to another court, or may be retained in the court in which the proceedings were commenced although it may not be the court in which they ought to have been commenced.
(2)The powers of transfer given by the foregoing provisions of this section may, subject to and in accordance with general rules, be exercised by the Lord Chancellor or by any judge of the High Court having jurisdiction under this Act, or, as regards any case within the jurisdiction of any other court, by the judge of that court.
(3)If any question arises in any winding up proceeding in a county court which all the parties to the proceeding, or which one of them and the judge of the court, desire to have determined in the first instance in the High Court, the judge shall state the facts in the form of a special case for the opinion of the High Court, and thereupon the special case and the proceedings, or such of them as may be required, shall be transmitted to the High Court for the purposes of the determination.
(1)The Court of Session shall have jurisdiction to wind up any company registered in Scotland.
(2)When the Court of Session is in vacation, the jurisdiction conferred on that court by this section may, subject to the provisions of this Act, be exercised by the judge acting as vacation judge in pursuance of section four of the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act, 1933.
(3)Where the amount of the share capital of a company paid up or credited as paid up does not exceed ten thousand pounds, the sheriff court of the sheriffdom in which the registered office of the company is situate shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of Session to wind up the company:
Provided that—
(a)it shall be lawful for the Court of Session, if it appears to the Court having regard to the amount of the assets of the company expedient to do so, to remit to any sheriff court any petition presented to the Court of Session for winding up any such company or to require any such petition presented to a sheriff court to be remitted to the Court of Session; and
(b)it shall be lawful for the Court of Session to require that any such petition as aforesaid presented to one sheriff court be remitted to another sheriff court; and
(c)in a winding up in the sheriff court it shall be lawful for the sheriff court to submit a stated case for the opinion of the Court of Session on any question of law arising in that winding up.
(4)For the purposes of this section, the expression “registered office ” means the place which has longest been the registered office of the company during the six months immediately preceding the presentation of the petition for winding up.
The Court of Session may, by Act of Sederunt, make provision for the taking of proceedings in a winding up before one of the Lords Ordinary, and where provision is so made, the Lord Ordinary shall, for the purposes of a winding up, have all the powers and jurisdiction of the court:
Provided that the Lord Ordinary may report to the Inner House any matter which may arise in the course of a winding up.
A company may be wound up by the court if—
(a)the company has by special resolution resolved that the company be wound up by the court;
(b)default is made in delivering the statutory report to the registrar or in holding the statutory meeting;
(c)the company does not commence its business within a year from its incorporation or suspends its business for a whole year;
(d)the number of members is reduced, in the case of a private company, below two, or, in the case of any other company, below seven;
(e)the company is unable to pay its debts;
(f)the court is of opinion that it is just and equitable that the company should be wound up.
A company shall be deemed to be unable to pay its debts—
(a)if a creditor, by assignment or otherwise, to whom the company is indebted in a sum exceeding fifty pounds then due has served on the company, by leaving it at the registered office of the company, a demand under his hand requiring the company to pay the sum so due and the company has for three weeks thereafter neglected to pay the sum or to secure or compound for it to the reasonable satisfaction of the creditor; or
(b)if, in England or Northern Ireland, execution or other process issued on a judgment, decree or order of any court in favour of a creditor of the company is returned unsatisfied in whole or in part; or
(c)if, in Scotland, the induciae of a charge for payment on an extract decree, or an extract registered bond, or an extract registered protest have expired without payment being made; or
(d)if it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that the company is unable to pay its debts, and, in determining whether a company is unable to pay its debts, the court shall take into account the contingent and prospective liabilities of the company.
(1)An application to the court for the winding up of a company shall be by petition presented, subject to the provisions of this section, either by the company or by any creditor or creditors (including any contingent or prospective creditor or creditors), contributory or contributories, or by all or any of those parties, together or separately:
Provided that—
(a)a contributory shall not be entitled to present a winding-up petition unless—
(i)either the number of members is reduced, in the case of a private company, below two, or, in the case of any other company, below seven; or
(ii)the shares in respect of which he is a contributory, or some of them, either were originally allotted to him or have been held by him, and registered in his name, for at least six months during the eighteen months before the commencement of the winding up, or have devolved on him through the death of a former holder; and
(b)a winding-up petition shall not, if the ground of the petition is default in delivering the statutory report to the registrar or in holding the statutory meeting, be presented by any person except a shareholder, nor before the expiration of fourteen days after the last day on which the meeting ought to have been held; and
(c)the court shall not give a hearing to a winding-up petition presented by a contingent or prospective creditor until such security for costs has been given as the court thinks reasonable and until a prima facie case for winding up has been established to the satisfaction of the court; and
(d)in a case falling within subsection (3) of section one hundred and sixty-nine of this Act, a winding-up petition may be presented by the Board of Trade.
(2)Where a company is being wound up voluntarily or subject to supervision in England, a winding-up petition may be presented by the official receiver attached to the court as well as by any other person authorised in that behalf under the other provisions of this section, but the court shall not make a winding-up order on the petition unless it is satisfied that the voluntary winding up or winding up subject to supervision cannot be continued with due regard to the interests of the creditors or contributories.
(3)Where, under the provisions of this Part of this Act, any person as being the husband of a female contributory is himself a contributory and a share has, during the whole or any part of the six months mentioned in paragraph (ii) of proviso (a) to subsection (1) of this section, been held by or registered in the name of the wife or by or in the name of a trustee for the wife or for the husband, the share shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to have been held by and registered in the name of the husband.
(1)On hearing a winding-up petition the court may dismiss it. or adjourn the hearing conditionally or unconditionally, or make any interim order, or any other order that it thinks fit, but the court shall not refuse to make a winding-up order on the ground only that the assets of the company have been mortgaged to an amount equal to or in excess of those assets or that the company has no assets.
(2)Where the petition is presented by members of the company as contributories on the ground that it is just and equitable that the company should be wound up, the court, if it is of opinion,—
(a)that the petitioners are entitled to relief either by winding up the company or by some other means; and
(b)that in the absence of any other remedy it would be just and equitable that the company should be wound up;
shall make a winding-up order, unless it is also of the opinion both that some other remedy is available to the petitioners and that they are acting unreasonably in seeking to have the company wound up instead of pursuing that other remedy.
(3)Where the petition is presented on the ground of default in delivering the statutory report to the registrar or in holding the statutory meeting, the court may—
(a)instead of making a winding-up order, direct that the statutory report shall be delivered or that a meeting shall be held; and
(b)order the costs to be paid by any persons who, in the opinion of the court, are responsible for the default.
At any time after the presentation of a winding-up petition, and before a winding-up order has been made, the company, or any creditor or contributory, may—
(a)where any action or proceeding against the company is pending in the High Court or Court of Appeal in England or Northern Ireland, apply to the court in which the action or proceeding is pending for a stay of proceedings therein; and
(b)where any other action or proceeding is pending against the company, apply to the court having jurisdiction to wind up the company to restrain further proceedings in the action or proceeding;
and the court to which application is so made may, as the case may be, stay or restrain the proceedings accordingly on such terms as it thinks fit.
In a winding up by the court, any disposition of the property of the company, including things in action, and any transfer of shares, or alteration in the status of the members of the company, made after the commencement of the winding up, shall, unless the court otherwise orders, be void.
(1)Where any company registered in England is being wound up by the court, any attachment, sequestration, distress or execution put in force against the estate or effects of the company after the commencement of the winding up shall be void to all intents.
(2)The provisions of this section shall, so far as relates to any estate or effects of the company situate in England, apply in the case of a company registered in Scotland as it applies in the case of a company registered in England.
(1)Where, before the presentation of a petition for the winding up of a company by the court, a resolution has been passed by the company for voluntary winding up, the winding up of the company shall be deemed to have commenced at the time of the passing of the resolution, and unless the court, on proof of fraud or mistake, thinks fit otherwise to direct, all proceedings taken in the voluntary winding up shall be deemed to have been validly taken.
(2)In any other case, the winding up of a company by the court shall be deemed to commence at the time of the presentation of the petition for the winding up.
On the making of a winding-up order, a copy of the order must forthwith be forwarded by the company, or otherwise as may be prescribed, to the registrar of companies, who shall make a minute thereof in his books relating to the company.
When a winding-up order has been made or a provisional liquidator has been appointed, no action or proceeding shall be proceeded with or commenced against the company except by leave of the court and subject to such terms as the court may impose.
An order for winding up a company shall operate in favour of all the creditors and of all the contributories of the company as if made on the joint petition of a creditor and of a contributory.
(1)For the purposes of this Act so far as it relates to the winding up of companies by the court in England, the term “official receiver ” means the official receiver, if any, attached to the court for bankruptcy purposes, or, if there is more than one such official receiver, then such one of them as the Board of Trade may appoint, or, if there is no such official receiver, then an officer appointed for the purpose by the Board.
(2)Any such officer shall, for the purpose of his duties under this Act, be styled “the official receiver ”.
If, in the case of the winding up of any company by the court in England, it appears to the court desirable, with a view to securing the more convenient and economical conduct of the winding up, that some officer other than the person who would by virtue of the last foregoing section be the official receiver should be the official receiver for the purposes of that winding up, the court may appoint that other officer to act as official receiver in that winding up, and the person so appointed shall be deemed to be the official receiver in that winding up for all the purposes-of this Act.
(1)Where the court in England has made a winding-up order or appointed a provisional liquidator, there shall, unless the court thinks fit to order otherwise and so orders, be made out and submitted to the official receiver a statement as to the affairs of the company in the prescribed form, verified by affidavit, and showing the particulars of its assets, debts and liabilities, the names, residences and occupations of its creditors, the securities held by them respectively, the dates when the securities were respectively given, and such further or other information as may be prescribed or as the official receiver may require.
(2)The statement shall be submitted and verified by one or more of the persons who are at the relevant date the directors and by the person who is at that date the secretary of the company, or by such of the persons hereinafter in this subsection mentioned as the official receiver, subject to the direction of the court, may require to submit and verify the statement, that is to say, persons—
(a)who are or have been officers of the company;
(b)who have taken part in the formation of the company at any time within one year before the relevant date;
(c)who are in the employment of the company, or have been in the employment of the company within the said year, and are in the opinion of the official receiver capable of giving the information required;
(d)who are or have been within the said year officers of or in the employment of a- company which is, or within the said year was, an officer of the company to which the statement relates.
(3)The statement shall be submitted within fourteen days from the relevant date or within such extended time as the official receiver or the court may for special reasons appoint.
(4)Any person making or concurring in making the statement and affidavit required by this section shall be allowed, and shall be paid by the official receiver or provisional liquidator, as the case may be, out of the assets of the company such costs and expenses incurred in and about the preparation and making of the statement and affidavit as the official receiver may consider reasonable, subject to an appeal to the court.
(5)If any person, without reasonable excuse, makes default in complying with the requirements of this section, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds for every day during which the default continues.
(6)Any person stating himself in writing to be a creditor or contributory of the company shall be entitled by himself or by his agent at all reasonable times, on payment of the prescribed fee, to inspect the statement submitted in pursuance of this section, and to a copy thereof or extract therefrom.
(7)Any person untruthfully so stating himself to be a creditor or contributory shall be guilty of a contempt of court and shall, on the application of the liquidator or of the official receiver, be punishable accordingly.
(8)In this section the expression “the relevant date ” means, in a case where a provisional liquidator is appointed, the date of his appointment, and, in a case where no such appointment is made, the date of the winding-up order.
(1)In a case where a winding-up order is made, the official receiver shall, as soon as practicable after receipt of the statement to be submitted under the last foregoing section, or, in a case where the court orders that no statement shall be submitted, as soon as practicable after the date of the order, submit a preliminary report to the court—
(a)as to the amount of capital issued, subscribed and paid up, and the estimated amount of assets and liabilities; and
(b)if the company has failed, as to the causes of the failure; and
(c)whether in his opinion further inquiry is desirable as to any matter relating to the promotion, formation or failure of the company or the conduct of the business thereof.
(2)The official receiver may also, if he thinks fit, make a further report, or further reports, stating the manner in which the company was formed and whether in his opinion any fraud has been committed by any person in its promotion or formation or by any officer of the company in relation to the company since the formation thereof, and any other matters which in his opinion it is desirable to bring to the notice of the court.
(3)If the official receiver states in any such further report as aforesaid that in his opinion a fraud has been committed as aforesaid, the court shall have the further powers provided in section two hundred and seventy of this Act.
For the purpose of conducting the proceedings in winding up a company and performing such duties in reference thereto as the court may impose, the court may appoint a liquidator or liquidators.
(1)Subject to the provisions of this section, the court may appoint a liquidator provisionally at any time after the presentation of a winding-up petition.
(2)Where the proceedings are in England, the appointment of a provisional liquidator may be made at any time before the making of a winding-up order, and either the official receiver or any other fit person may be appointed.
(3)Where the proceedings are in Scotland, the appointment of a provisional liquidator may be made at any time before the first appointment of liquidators.
(4)Where a liquidator is provisionally appointed by the court, the court may limit and restrict his powers by the order appointing him.
The following provisions with respect to liquidators shall have effect on a winding-up order being made in England:—
(a)the official receiver shall by virtue of his office become the provisional liquidator and shall continue to act as such until he or another person becomes liquidator and is capable of acting as such;
(b)the official receiver shall summon separate meetings of the creditors and contributories of the company for the purpose of determining whether or not an application is to be made to the court for appointing a liquidator in the place of the official receiver;
(c)the court may make any appointment and order required to give effect to any such determination and, if there is a difference between the determinations, of the meetings of the creditors and contributories in respect of the matter aforesaid, the court shall decide the difference and make such order thereon as the court may think fit;
(d)in a case where a liquidator is not appointed by the court, the official receiver shall be the liquidator of the company;
(e)the official receiver shall by virtue of his office be the liquidator during any vacancy;
(f)a liquidator shall be described, where a person other than the official receiver is liquidator, by the style of “the liquidator ”, and, where the official receiver is liquidator, by the style of “the official receiver and liquidator ”, of the particular company in respect of which he is appointed and not by his individual name.
Where, in the winding up of a company by the court in England, a person other than the official receiver is appointed liquidator, that person—
(a)shall not be capable of acting as liquidator until he has notified his appointment to the registrar of companies and given security in the prescribed manner to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade;
(b)shall give the official receiver such information and such access to and facilities for inspecting the books and documents of the company and generally such aid as may be requisite for enabling that officer to perform his duties under this Act.
The following provisions with respect to the liquidators shall have effect in a winding up by the court in Scotland:—
(a)the court may determine whether any and what security is to be given by a liquidator on his appointment;
(b)a liquidator shall be described by the style of “the official liquidator ” of the particular company in respect of which he is appointed and not by his individual name;
(c)where an order has been made for winding up a company subject to supervision and an order is afterwards made for winding up by the court, the court may by the last-mentioned or by any subsequent order appoint any person who is then liquidator, either provisionally or permanently, and either with or without any other person, to be liquidator in the winding up by the court.
(1)A liquidator appointed by the court may resign or, on cause shown, be removed by the court.
(2)Where a person other than the official receiver is appointed liquidator, he shall receive such salary or remuneration by way of percentage or otherwise as the court may direct, and, if more such persons than one are appointed liquidators, their remuneration shall be distributed among them in such proportions as the court directs.
(3)A vacancy in the office of a liquidator appointed by the court shall be filled by the court.
(4)If more than one liquidator is appointed by the court, the court shall declare whether any act by this Act required or authorised to be done by the liquidator is to be done by all or any one or more of the persons appointed.
(5)Subject to the provisions of section three hundred and thirty-five of this Act, the acts of a liquidator shall be valid notwithstanding any defects that may afterwards be discovered in his appointment or qualification.
(1)Where a winding-up order has been made or where a provisional liquidator has been appointed, the liquidator or the provisional liquidator, as the case may be, shall take into his custody or under his control all the property and things in action to which the company is or appears to be entitled.
(2)In a winding up by the court in Scotland, if and so long as there is no liquidator, all the property of the company shall be deemed to be in the custody of the court.
Where a company is being wound up by the court, the court may on the application of the liquidator by order direct that all or any part of the property of whatsoever description belonging to the company or held by trustees on its behalf shall vest in the liquidator by his official name, and thereupon the property to which the order relates shall vest accordingly, and the liquidator may, after giving such indemnity, if any, as the court may direct, bring or defend in his official name any action or other, legal proceeding which relates to that property or which it is necessary to bring or defend for the purpose of effectually winding up the company and recovering its property.
(1)The liquidator in a winding up by the court shall have power, with the sanction either of the court or of the committee of inspection,—:
(a)to bring or defend any action or other legal proceeding in the name and on behalf of the company;
(b)to carry on the business-of the company so far as may be necessary for the beneficial winding up thereof;
(c)to appoint a solicitor to assist him in the performance of his duties;
(d)to pay any classes of creditors in full;
(e)to make any compromise or arrangement with creditors or persons claiming to be creditors, or having or alleging themselves to have any claim, present or future, certain or contingent, ascertained or sounding only in damages against the company, or whereby the company may be rendered liable;
(f)to compromise all calls and liabilities to calls, debts and liabilities capable of resulting in debts, and all claims, present or future, certain or contingent, ascertained or sounding only in damages, subsisting or supposed to subsist between the company and a contributory or alleged contributory or other debtor or person apprehending liability to the company, and all questions in any way relating to or affecting the assets or the winding up of the company, on such terms as may be agreed, and take any security for the discharge of any such call, debt, liability or claim and give a complete discharge in respect thereof.
(2)The liquidator in a winding up by the court shall have power—
(a)to sell the real and personal property and things in action of the company by public auction or private contract, with power to transfer the whole thereof to any person or company or to sell the same in parcels;
(b)to do all acts and to execute, in the name and on behalf of the company, all deeds, receipts and other documents, and for that purpose to use, when necessary, the company's seal;
(c)to prove, rank and claim in the bankruptcy, insolvency or sequestration of any contributory for any balance against his estate, and to receive dividends in the bankruptcy, insolvency or sequestration in respect of that balance, as a separate debt due from the bankrupt or insolvent, and rateably with the other separate creditors;
(d)to draw, accept, make and indorse any bill of exchange or promissory note in the name and on behalf of the company, with the same effect with respect to the liability of the company as if the bill or note had been drawn, accepted, made or indorsed by or on behalf of the company in the course of its business ;
(e)to raise on the security of the assets of the company any money requisite;
(f)to take out in his official name letters of administration to any deceased contributory, and to do in his official name any other act necessary for obtaining payment of any money due from a contributory or his estate which cannot be conveniently done in the name of the company, and in all such cases the money due shall, for the purpose of enabling the liquidator to take out the letters of administration or recover the money, be deemed to be due to the liquidator himself;
(g)to appoint an agent to do any business which the liquidator is unable to do himself;
(h)to do all such other things as may be necessary for winding up the affairs of the company and distributing its assets.
(3)The exercise by the liquidator in a winding up by the court of the powers conferred by this section shall be subject to the control of the court, and any creditor or contributory may apply to the court with respect to any exercise or proposed exercise of any of those powers.
(4)In the case of a winding up in Scotland, the court may provide by any order that the liquidator may, where there is no committee of inspection, exercise any of the powers mentioned in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section without the sanction or intervention of the court.
(5)In a winding up by the court in Scotland, the liquidator shall, subject to general rules, have the same powers as a trustee on a bankrupt estate.
(1)Subject to the provisions of this Act, the liquidator of a company which is being wound up by the court in England shall, in the administration of the assets of the company and in the distribution thereof among its creditors, have regard to any directions that may be given by resolution of the creditors or contributories at any general meeting or by the committee of inspection, and any directions given by the creditors or contributories at any general meeting shall in case of conflict be deemed to override any directions given by the committee of inspection.
(2)The liquidator may summon general meetings of the creditors or contributories for the purpose of ascertaining their wishes, and it shall be his duty to summon meetings .at such times as the creditors or contributories, by resolution, either at the meeting appointing the liquidator or otherwise, may direct, or whenever requested in writing to do so by one tenth in value of the creditors or contributories as the case may be.
(3)The liquidator may apply to the court in manner prescribed for directions in relation to any particular matter arising under the winding up.
(4)Subject to the provisions of this Act, the liquidator shall use his own discretion in the management of the estate and its distribution among the creditors.
(5)If any person is aggrieved by any act or decision of the liquidator, that person may apply to the court, and the court may confirm, reverse or modify the act or decision complained of, and make such order in the premises as it thinks just.
Every liquidator of a company which is being wound up by the court in England shall keep, in manner prescribed, proper books in which he shall cause to be made entries or minutes of proceedings at meetings, and of such other matters as may be prescribed, and any creditor or contributory may, subject to the control of the court, personally or by his agent inspect any such books.
(1)Every liquidator of a company which is being wound up by the court in England shall, in such manner and at such times as the Board of Trade, with the concurrence of the Treasury, direct, pay the money received by him to the Companies Liquidation Account at the Bank of England, and the Board shall furnish him with a certificate of receipt of the money so paid:
Provided that, if the committee of inspection satisfy the Board of Trade that for the purpose of carrying on the business of the company or of obtaining advances, or for any other reason, it is for the advantage of the creditors or contributories that the liquidator should have an account with any other bank, the Board shall, on the application of the committee of inspection, authorise the liquidator to make his payments into and out of such other bank as the committee may select, and thereupon those payments shall be made in the prescribed manner.
(2)If any such liquidator at any time retains for more than ten days a sum exceeding fifty pounds or such other amount as the Board of Trade in any particular case authorise him to retain, then, unless he explains the retention to the satisfaction of the Board, he shall pay interest on the amount so retained in excess at the rate of twenty per cent. per annum, and shall be liable to disallowance of all or such part of his remuneration as the Board may think just, and to be removed from his office by the Board, and shall be liable to pay any expenses occasioned' by reason of his default.
(3)A liquidator of a company which is being wound up by the court in England shall not pay any sums received by him as liquidator into his private banking account.
(1)Every liquidator of a company which is being wound up by the court in England shall, at such times as may be prescribed but not less than twice in each year during his tenure of office, send to the Board of Trade, or as they direct, an account of his receipts and payments as liquidator.
(2)The account shall be in a prescribed form, shall be made in duplicate, and shall be verified by a statutory declaration in the prescribed form.
(3)The Board shall cause the account to be audited, and for the purpose of the audit the liquidator shall furnish the Board with such vouchers and information as the Board may require, and the Board may at any time require the production of and inspect any books or accounts kept by the liquidator.
(4)When the account has been audited, one copy thereof shall be filed and kept by the Board, and the other copy shall be delivered to the court for filing, and each copy shall be open to the inspection of any person on payment of the prescribed fee.
(5)The liquidator shall cause the account when audited or a summary thereof to be printed, and shall send a printed copy of the account or summary by post to every creditor and contributory:
Provided that the Board may in any case dispense with compliance with this subsection.
(1)The Board of Trade shall take cognizance of the conduct of liquidators of companies which are being wound up by the court in England, and, if a liquidator does not faithfully perform his duties and duly observe all the requirements imposed on him by statute, rules or otherwise with respect to the performance of his duties or if any complaint is made to the Board by any creditor or contributory in regard thereto, the Board shall inquire into the matter, and take such action thereon as they may think expedient.
(2)The Board may at any time require any liquidator of a company which is being wound up by the court in England to answer any inquiry in relation to any winding up in which he is engaged, and may, if the Board think fit, apply to the court to examine him or any other person on oath concerning the winding up.
(3)The Board may also direct a local investigation to be made of the books and vouchers of the liquidator.
(1)When the liquidator of a company which is being wound up by the court in England has realised all the property of the company, or so much thereof as can, in his opinion, be realised without needlessly protracting the liquidation, and has distributed a final dividend, if any, to the creditors, and adjusted the rights of the contributories among themselves, and made a final return, if any, to the contributories, or has resigned, or has been removed from his office, the Board of Trade shall, on his application, cause a report on his accounts to be prepared, and, on his complying with all the requirements of the Board, shall take into consideration the report and any objection which may be urged by any creditor or contributory or person interested against the release of the liquidator, and shall either grant or withhold the release accordingly, subject nevertheless to an appeal to the High Court.
(2)Where the release of a liquidator is withheld, the court may, on the application of any creditor or contributory or person interested, make such order as it thinks just, charging the liquidator with the consequences of any act or default which he may have done or made contrary to his duty.
(3)An order of the Board of Trade releasing the liquidator shall discharge him from all liability in respect of any act done or default made by him in the administration of the affairs of the company or otherwise in relation to his conduct as liquidator, but any such order may be revoked on proof that it was obtained by fraud or by suppression or concealment of any material fact.
(4)Where the liquidator has not previously resigned or been removed, his release shall operate as a removal of him from his office.
(1)When a winding-up order has been made by the court in England, it shall be the business of the separate meetings of creditors and contributories summoned for the purpose of determining whether or not an application should be made to the court for appointing a liquidator in place of the official receiver, to determine further whether or not an application is to be made to the court for the appointment of a committee of inspection to act with the liquidator and who are to be members of the committee if appointed.
(2)When a winding-up order has been made by the court in Scotland, the liquidator shall summon separate meetings of the creditors and contributories of the company for the purpose of determining whether or not an application is to e made to the court for the appointment of a committee of inspection to act with the liquidator and who are to be the members of the committee if appointed:
Provided that, where the winding-up order has been made on the ground that the company is unable to pay its debts, it shall not be necessary for the liquidator to summon a meeting of the contributories.
(3)The court may make any appointment and order required to give effect to any such determination, and if there is a difference between the determinations of the meetings of the creditors and contributories in respect of the matters aforesaid the court shall decide the difference and make such order thereon as the court may think fit.
(1)A committee of inspection appointed in pursuance of this Act shall consist of creditors and contributories of the company or persons holding general powers of attorney from creditors or contributories in such proportions as may be agreed on by the meetings of creditors and contributories. or as, in case of difference, may be determined by the court:
Provided that, where in Scotland a winding-up order has been made on the ground that a company is unable to pay its debts, the committee shall consist of creditors or persons holding general powers of attorney from creditors.
(2)The committee shall meet at such times as they from time to time appoint, and, failing such appointment, at least once a month, and the liquidator or any member of the committee may also call a meeting of the committee as and when he thinks necessary.
(3)The committee may act by a majority of their members present at a meeting but shall not act unless a majority of the committee are present.
(4)A member of the committee may resign by notice in writing signed by him and delivered to the liquidator.
(5)If a member of the committee becomes bankrupt or compounds or arranges with his creditors or is absent from five consecutive meetings of the committee without the leave of those members who together with himself represent the creditors or contributories, as the case may be, his office shall thereupon become vacant.
(6)A member of the committee may be removed by an ordinary resolution at a meeting of creditors, if he represents creditors, or of contributories, if he represents contributories, of which seven days' notice has been given, stating the object of the meeting.
(7)On a vacancy occurring in the committee the liquidator shall forthwith summon a meeting of creditors or of contributories, as the case may require, to fill the vacancy, and the meeting may, by resolution, reappoint the same or appoint another creditor or contributory to fill the vacancy:
Provided that if the liquidator, having regard to the position in the winding up, is of the opinion that it is unnecessary for the vacancy to be filled he may apply to the court and the court may make an order that the vacancy shall not be filled, or shall not be filled except in such circumstances as may be specified in the order.
(8)The continuing members of the committee, if not less than two, may act notwithstanding any vacancy in the committee.
Where in the case of a winding up in England there is no committee of inspection, the Board of Trade may, on the application of the liquidator, do any act or thing or give any direction or permission which is by this Act authorised or required to be done or given by the committee.
In the case of a winding up in Scotland, the committee of inspection shall, in addition to the powers and duties conferred and imposed on it by this Act, have such of the powers and duties of commissioners on a bankrupt estate as may be conferred and imposed on committees of inspection by general rules.
(1)The court may at any time after an order for winding up, on the application either of the liquidator or the official receiver or any creditor or contributory, and on proof to the satisfaction of the court that all proceedings in relation to the winding up ought to be stayed, make an order staying the proceedings, either altogether or for a limited time, on such terms and conditions as the court thinks fit.
(2)On any application under this section the court may, before making an order, require the official receiver to furnish to the court a report with respect to any facts or matters which are in his opinion relevant to the application.
(3)A copy of every order made under this section shall forthwith be forwarded by the company, or otherwise as may be prescribed, to the registrar of companies, who shall make a minute of the order in his books relating to the company.
(1)As soon as may be after making a winding-up order, the court shall settle a list of contributories, with power to rectify the register of members in all cases where rectification is required in pursuance of this Act, and shall cause the assets of the company to be collected, and applied in discharge of its liabilities:
Provided that, where it appears to the court that it will not be necessary to make calls on or adjust the rights of contributories, the court may dispense with the settlement of a list of contributories.
(2)In settling the list of contributories, the court shall distinguish between persons who are contributories in their own right and persons who are contributories as being representatives of or liable for the debts of others.
The court may, at any time after making a winding-up order, require any contributory for the time being on the list of contributories and any trustee, receiver, banker, agent or officer of the company to pay, deliver, convey, surrender or transfer forthwith, or within such time as the court directs, to the liquidator any money, property or books and papers in his hands to which the company is prima facie entitled.
(1)The court may, at any time after making a winding-up order, make an order on any .contributory for the time being on the list of contributories to pay, in manner directed by the order, any money due from him or from the estate of the person whom he represents to the company, exclusive of any money payable by him or the estate by virtue of any call in pursuance of this Act.
(2)The court in making such an order may—
(a)in the case of an unlimited company, allow to the contributory by way of set-off any money due to him or to the estate which he represents from the company on any independent dealing or contract with the company, but not any money due to him as a member of the company in respect of any dividend or profit; and
(b)in the case of a limited company, make to any director or manager whose liability is unlimited or to his estate the like allowance.
(3)In the case of any company, whether limited or unlimited, when all the creditors are paid in full, any money due on any account whatever to a contributory from the company may be allowed to him by way of set-off against any subsequent call.
(1)The court may, at any time after making a winding-up order, and either before or after it has ascertained the sufficiency of the assets of the company, make calls on all or any of the contributories for the time being settled on the list of the contributories to the extent of their liability, for payment of any money which the court considers necessary to satisfy the debts and liabilities of the company, and the costs, charges and expenses of winding up, and for the adjustment of the rights of the contributories among themselves, and make an order for payment of any calls so made.
(2)In making a call the court may take into consideration the probability that some of the contributories may partly or wholly fail to pay the call.
(1)The court may order any contributory, purchaser or other person from whom money is due to the company to pay the amount due into the Bank of England or any branch thereof to the account of the liquidator instead of to the liquidator, and any such order may be enforced in the same manner as if it had directed payment to the liquidator.
(2)All moneys and securities paid or delivered into the Bank of England or any branch thereof in the event of a winding up by the court shall be subject in all respects to the orders of the court.
(1)An order made by the court on a contributory shall, subject to any right of appeal, be conclusive evidence that the money, if any, thereby appearing to be due or ordered to be paid is due.
(2)All other pertinent matters stated in the order shall be taken to be truly stated as against all persons and in all proceedings except proceedings in Scotland against the heritable estate of a deceased contributory, in which case the order shall be only prima facie evidence for the purpose of charging his heritable estate, unless his heirs or legatees of heritage were on the list of contributories at the time of the order being made.
(1)Where in proceedings in England the official receiver becomes the liquidator of a company, whether provisionally or otherwise, he may, if satisfied that the nature of the estate or business of the company, or the interests of the creditors or contributories generally, require the appointment of a special manager of the estate or business of the company other than himself, apply to the court, and the court may on such application appoint a special manager of the said estate or business to act during such time as the court may direct, with such powers, including any of the powers of a receiver or manager, as may be entrusted to him by the court.
(2)The special manager shall give such security and account in such manner as the Board of Trade direct.
(3)The special manager shall receive such remuneration as may be fixed by the court.
The court may fix a time or times within which creditors are to prove their debts or claims or to be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before those debts are proved.
The court shall adjust the rights of the contributories among themselves and distribute any surplus among the persons entitled thereto.
(1)The court may, at any time after making a winding-up order, make such order for inspection of the books and papers of the company by creditors and contributories as the court thinks just, and any books and papers in the possession of the company may be inspected by creditors or contributories accordingly, but not further or otherwise.
(2)Nothing in this section shall be taken as excluding or restricting any statutory rights of a government department or person acting under the authority of a government department.
The court may, in the event of the assets being insufficient to satisfy the liabilities, make an order as to the payment out of the assets of the costs, charges and expenses incurred in the winding up in such order of priority as the court thinks just.
(1)The court may, at any time after the appointment of a provisional liquidator or the making of a winding-up order, summon before it any officer of the company or person known or suspected to have in his possession any property of the company or supposed to be indebted to the company, or any person whom the court deems capable of giving information concerning the promotion, formation, trade, dealings, affairs or property of the company.
(2)The court may examine him on oath concerning the matters aforesaid, either by word of mouth or on written interrogatories, and may reduce his answers to writing and require him to sign them.
(3)The court may require him to produce any books and papers in his custody or power relating to the company, but, where he claims any lien on books or papers produced by him, the production shall be without prejudice to that lien, and the court shall have jurisdiction in the winding up to determine all questions relating to that lien.
(4)If any person so summoned, after being tendered a reasonable sum for his expenses, refuses to come before the court at the time appointed, not having a lawful impediment (made known to the court at the time of its sitting and allowed by it), the court may cause him to be apprehended and brought before the court for examination.
In the winding up by the court of a company registered in Scotland, the court shall have power to require the attendance of any officer of the company at any meeting of creditors or of contributories or of a committee of inspection for the purpose of giving information as to the trade, dealings, affairs or property of the company.
(1)Where an order has been made in England for winding up a company by the court, and the official receiver has made a further report under this Act stating that in his opinion a fraud has been committed by any person in the promotion or formation of the company or by any officer of the company in relation to the company since its formation, the court may, after consideration of the report, direct that that person or officer shall attend before the court on a day appointed by the court for that purpose and be publicly examined as to the promotion or formation or the conduct of the business of the company or as to his conduct and dealings as officer thereof.
(2)The official receiver shall take part in the examination, and for that purpose may, if specially authorised by the Board of Trade in that behalf, employ a solicitor with or without counsel.
(3)The liquidator, where the official receiver is not the liquidator, and any creditor or contributory may also take part in the examination either personally or by solicitor or counsel.
(4)The court may put such questions to the person examined as the court thinks fit.
(5)The person examined shall be examined on oath and shall answer all such questions as the court may put or allow to be put to him.
(6)A person ordered to be examined under this section shall at his own cost, before his examination, be furnished with a copy of the official receiver's report, and may at his own cost employ a solicitor with or without counsel, who shall be at liberty to put to him such questions as the court may deem just for the purpose of enabling him to explain or qualify any answers given by him:
Provided that, if any such person applies to the court to be exculpated from any charges made or suggested against him, it shall be the duty of the official receiver to appear on the hearing of the application and call the attention of the court to any matters which appear to the official receiver to be relevant, and if the court, after hearing any evidence given or witnesses called by the official receiver, grants the application, the court may allow the applicant such costs as in its discretion it may think fit.
(7)Notes of the examination shall be taken down in writing, and shall be read over to or by, and signed by, the person examined, and may thereafter be used in evidence against him, and shall be open to the inspection of any creditor or contributory at all reasonable times.
(8)The court may, if it thinks fit, adjourn the examination from time to time.
(9)An examination under this section may, if the court so directs, and subject to general rules, be held before any judge of county courts, or before any officer of the Supreme Court being an official referee, master or registrar in bankruptcy, or before any district registrar of the High Court named for the purpose by the Lord Chancellor, or, in the case of companies being wound up by a Palatine Court, before a registrar of that court,-and the powers of the court under this section may be exercised by the person before whom the examination is held.
The court, at any time either before or after making a winding-up order, on proof of probable cause for believing that a contributory is about to quit the United Kingdom or otherwise to abscond or to remove or conceal any of his property for the purpose of evading payment of calls or of avoiding examination respecting the affairs of the company, may cause the contributory to be arrested and his books and papers and movable personal property to be seized and him and them to be safely kept until such time as the court may order.
Any powers by this Act conferred on the court shall be in addition to and not in restriction of any existing powers of instituting proceedings against any contributory or debtor of the company or the estate of any contributory or debtor, for the recovery of any call or other sums.
Provision may be made by general rules for enabling or requiring all or any of the powers and duties conferred and imposed on the court in England by this Act in respect of the following matters—
(a)the holding and conducting of meetings to ascertain the wishes of creditors and contributories;
(b)the settling of lists of contributories and the rectifying of the register of members where required, and the collecting and applying of the assets;
(c)the paying, delivery, conveyance, surrender or transfer of money, property, books or papers to the liquidator;
(d)the making of calls;
(e)the fixing of a time within which debts and claims must be proved;
to be exercised or performed by the liquidator as an officer of the court, and subject to the control of the court:
Provided that the liquidator shall not, without the special leave of the court, rectify the register of members, and shall not make any call without either the special leave of the court or the sanction of the committee of inspection.
(1)When the affairs of a company have been completely wound up, the court, if the liquidator makes an application in that behalf, shall make an order that the company be dissolved from the date of the order, and the company shall be dissolved accordingly.
(2)A copy of the order shall within fourteen days from the date thereof be forwarded by 'the liquidator to the registrar of companies who shall make in his books a minute of the dissolution of the company.
(3)If the liquidator makes default in complying with the requirements of this section, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which he is in default.
(1)Where an order, interlocutor or decree has been made in Scotland for winding up a company by the court, it shall be competent to the court, on production by the liquidators of a list certified by them of the names of the contributories liable in payment of any calls, and of the amount due by each contributory, and of the date when the said amount became due, to pronounce forthwith a decree against those contributories for payment of the sums so certified to be due, with interest from the said date till payment, at the rate of five per cent. per annum in the same way and to the same effect as if they had severally consented to registration for execution, on a charge of six days, of a legal obligation to pay those calls and interest.
(2)Any such decree may be extracted immediately, and no suspension thereof shall be competent, except on caution or consignation, unless with special leave of the court.
(1)Any order made by the court in England for or in the course of winding up a company shall be enforced in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the courts that would respectively have jurisdiction in respect of that company if registered in Scotland or Northern Ireland and in the same manner in all respects as if the order had been made by those courts.
(2)In like manner orders, interlocutors and decrees made by the court in Scotland for or in the course of winding up a company shall be enforced in England and Northern Ireland by the courts which would respectively have jurisdiction in respect of that company if registered in that part of the United Kingdom where the order is required to be enforced, and in the same manner in all respects as if the order had been made by those courts.
(3)Where any order, interlocutor or decree made by one court is required to be enforced by another court, an office copy of the order, interlocutor or decree shall be produced to the proper officer of the court required to enforce the same, and the production of an office copy shall be sufficient evidence of the order, interlocutor or decree, and thereupon the last-mentioned court shall take the requisite steps in the matter for enforcing the order, interlocutor or decree, in the same manner as if it had been made by that court.
(1)Subject to the provisions of this section and to rules of court, an appeal from any order or decision made or given in the winding up of a company by the court in Scotland under this Act shall lie in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as an appeal from any order or decision of the court in cases within its ordinary jurisdiction.
(2)In regard to orders or judgments pronounced by the judge acting as vacation judge in pursuance of section four of the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act, 1933,—
(a)none of the orders specified in Part I of the Tenth Schedule to this Act shall be subject to review, reduction, suspension or stay of execution; and
(b)every other order or judgment (except as hereinafter mentioned) may be submitted to review by the Inner House by reclaiming motion enrolled within fourteen days from the date of the order or judgment:
Provided that an order being one of the orders specified in Part II of the Tenth Schedule to this Act shall, from the date of such order and notwithstanding that it has been submitted to review as aforesaid, be carried out and receive effect until the Inner House have disposed of the matter.
(3)In regard to orders or judgments pronounced in Scotland by a Lord Ordinary before whom proceedings in a winding up are being taken, any such order or judgment may be submitted to review by the Inner House by reclaiming motion enrolled within fourteen days from the date of the order or judgment, but should such order or judgment not be so submitted to review during session, the provisions of this section in regard to orders or judgments pronounced by the judge acting as vacation judge shall apply to the order or judgment.
(4)Nothing in this section shall affect the provisions of this Act in reference to decrees in Scotland for payment of calls in the winding up of companies, whether voluntary or by, or subject to the supervision of, the court.
(1)A company may be wound up voluntarily—
(a)when the period, if any; fixed for the duration of the company by the articles expires, or the event, if any, occurs, on the occurrence of which the articles provide that the company is to be dissolved, and the company in general meeting has passed a resolution requiring the company to be wound up voluntarily;
(b)if the company resolves by special resolution that the company be wound up voluntarily;
(c)if the company resolves by extraordinary resolution to the effect that it cannot by reason of its liabilities continue its business, and that it is advisable to wind up.
(2)In this Act the expression “a resolution for voluntary winding up ” means a resolution passed under any of the provisions of subsection (1) of this section.
(1)When a company has passed a resolution for voluntary winding up, it shall, within fourteen days after the passing of the resolution, give notice of the resolution by advertisement in the Gazette.
(2)If default is made in complying with this section, the company and every officer of the company who is in default shall be liable to a default fine, and for the purposes of this' subsection the liquidator of the company shall be deemed to be an officer of the company.
A voluntary winding up shall be deemed to commence at the time of the passing of the resolution for voluntary winding up.
In case of a voluntary winding up, the company shall, from the commencement of the winding up, cease to carry on its business, except so far as may be required for the beneficial winding up thereof:
Provided that the corporate state and corporate powers of the company shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in its articles, continue until it is dissolved.
Any transfer of shares, not being a transfer made to or with the sanction of the liquidator, and any alteration in the status of the members of the company, made after the commencement of a voluntary winding up, shall be void.
(1)Where it is proposed to wind up a company voluntarily, the directors of the company or, in the case of a company having more than two directors, the majority of the directors, may, at a meeting of the directors make a statutory declaration to the effect that they have made a full inquiry into the affairs of the company, and that, having so done, they have formed the opinion that the company will be able to pay its debts in full within such period not exceeding twelve months from the commencement of the winding up as may be specified in the declaration.
(2)A declaration made as aforesaid shall have no effect for the purposes of this Act unless—
(a)it is made within the five weeks immediately preceding the date of the passing of the resolution for winding up the company and is delivered to the registrar of companies for registration before that date; and
(b)it embodies a statement of the company's assets and liabilities as at the latest practicable date before the making of the declaration.
(3)Any director of a company making a declaration under this section without having reasonable grounds for the opinion that the company will be able to pay its debts in full within the period specified in the declaration, shall be liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds or to both; and if the company is wound up in pursuance of a resolution passed within the period of five weeks after the making of the declaration, but its debts are not paid or provided for in full within the period stated in the declaration, it shall be presumed until the contrary is shown that the director did not have reasonable grounds for his opinion.
(4)A winding up in the case of which a declaration has been made and delivered in accordance with this section or section two hundred and thirty of the Companies Act, 1929, is in this Act referred to as " a members' voluntary winding up “, and a winding up in the case of which a declaration has not been made and delivered as aforesaid is in this Act referred to as ” a creditors' voluntary winding up ".
(5)Subsections (1) to (3) of this section shall not apply to a winding up commenced before the commencement of this Act.
The provisions contained in the seven sections of this Act next following shall, subject to the provisions of the last of them, apply in relation to a members' voluntary winding up.
(1)The company in general meeting shall appoint one or more liquidators for the purpose of winding up the affairs and distributing the assets of the company, and may fix the remuneration to be paid to him or them.
(2)On the appointment of a liquidator all the powers of the directors shall cease, except so far as the company in general meeting or the liquidator sanctions the continuance thereof.
(1)If a vacancy occurs by death, resignation or otherwise in the office of liquidator appointed by the company, the company in general meeting may, subject to any arrangement with its creditors, fill the vacancy.
(2)For that purpose a general meeting may be convened by any contributory or, if there were more liquidators than one, by the continuing liquidators.
(3)The meeting shall be held in manner provided by this Act or by the articles, or in such manner as may, on application by any contributory or by the continuing liquidators, be determined by the court.
(1)Where a company is proposed to be, or is in course of being, wound up. altogether voluntarily, and the whole or part of its business or property is proposed to be transferred or sold to another company, whether a company within the meaning of this Act or not (in this section called “the transferee company ”), the liquidator of the first-mentioned company (in this section called “the transferor company ”) may, with the sanction of a special resolution of that company, conferring either a general authority on the liquidator or an authority in respect of any particular arrangement, receive, in compensation or part compensation for the transfer or sale, shares, policies or other like interests in the transferee company for distribution among the members of the transferor company, or may enter into any other arrangement whereby the members of the transferor company may, in lieu of receiving cash, shares, policies or other like interests, or in addition thereto, participate in the profits of or receive any other benefit from the transferee company.
(2)Any sale or arrangement in pursuance of this section shall be binding on the members of the transferor company.
(3)If any member of the transferor company who did not vote in favour of the special resolution expresses his dissent therefrom in writing addressed to the liquidator, and left at the registered office of the company within seven days after the passing of the resolution, he may require the liquidator either to abstain from carrying the resolution into effect or to purchase his interest at a price to be determined by agreement or by arbitration in manner provided by this section.
(4)If the liquidator elects to purchase the member's interest, the purchase money must be paid before the company is dissolved and be raised by the liquidator in such manner as may be determined by special resolution.
(5)A special resolution shall not be invalid for the purposes of this section by reason that it is passed before or concurrently with a resolution for voluntary winding up or for appointing liquidators, but, if an order is made within a year for winding up the company by or subject to the supervision of the court, the special resolution shall not be valid unless sanctioned by the court.
(6)For the purposes of an arbitration under this section, the provisions of the [8 & 9 Vict. c. 16.] Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, or, in the case of a winding up in Scotland, the [8 & 9 Vict. c. 17.] Companies Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845, with respect to the settlement of disputes by arbitration, shall be incorporated with this Act, and in the construction of those provisions this Act shall be deemed to be the special Act and “the company ” shall mean the transferor company, and any appointment by the said incorporated provisions directed to be made under the hand of the secretary or any two of the directors may be made under the hand of the liquidator, or, if there is more than one liquidator, then of any two or more of the liquidators.
(1)If, in the case of a winding up commenced after the commencement of this Act, the liquidator is at any time of opinion that the company will not be able to pay its debts in full within the period stated in the declaration under section two hundred and eighty-three of this Act he shall forthwith summon a meeting of the creditors, and shall lay before the meeting a statement of the assets and liabilities of the company.
(2)If the liquidator fails to comply with this section, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.
(1)Subject to the provisions of section two hundred and ninety-one of this Act, in the event of the winding up continuing for more than one year, the liquidator shall summon a general meeting of the company at the end of the first year from the commencement of the winding up, and of each succeeding year, or at the first convenient date within three months from the end of the year or such longer period as the Board of Trade may allow, and shall lay before the meeting an account of his acts and dealings and of the conduct of the winding up during the preceding year.
(2)If the liquidator fails to comply with this section, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.
(1)Subject to the provisions of the next following section, as soon as the affairs of the company are fully wound up, the liquidator shall make up an account of the winding up, showing how the winding up has been conducted and the property of the company has been disposed of, and thereupon shall call a general meeting of the company for the purpose of laying before it the account, and giving any explanation thereof.
(2)The meeting shall be called by advertisement in the Gazette, specifying the time, place and object thereof, and published one month at least before the meeting.
(3)Within one week after the meeting, the liquidator shall send to the registrar of companies a copy of the account, and shall make a return to him of the holding of the meeting and of its date, and if the copy is not sent or the return is not made in accordance with this subsection the liquidator shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the default continues:
Provided that, if a quorum is not present at the meeting, the liquidator shall, in lieu of the return hereinbefore mentioned, make a return that the meeting was duly summoned and that no quorum was present thereat, and upon such a return being made the provisions of this subsection as to the making of the return shall be deemed to have been complied with.
(4)The registrar on receiving the account and either of the returns hereinbefore mentioned shall forthwith register them, and on the expiration of three months from the registration of the return the company shall be deemed to be dissolved:
Provided that the court may, on the application of the liquidator or of any other person who appears to the court to be interested, make an order deferring the date at which the dissolution of the company is to take effect for such time as the court thinks fit.
(5)It shall be the duty of the person on whose application an order of the court under this section is made, within seven days after the making of the order, to deliver to the registrar an office copy of the order for registration, and if that person fails so to do he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the default continues.
(6)If the liquidator fails to call a general meeting of the company as required by this section, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.
Where section two hundred and eighty-eight of this Act has effect, sections two hundred and ninety-nine and three hundred thereof shall apply to the winding up to the exclusion of the two last foregoing sections, as if the winding up were a creditors' voluntary winding up and not a members' voluntary winding up:
Provided that the liquidator shall not be required to summon a meeting of creditors under the said section two hundred and ninety-nine at the end of the first year from the commencement of the winding up, unless the meeting held under the said section two hundred and eighty-eight is held more than three months before the end of that year.
The provisions contained in the eight sections of this Act next following shall apply in relation to a creditors' voluntary winding up.
(1)The company shall cause a meeting of the creditors of the company to be summoned for the day, or the day next following the day, on which there is to be held the meeting at which the resolution for voluntary winding up is to be proposed, and shall cause the notices of the said meeting of creditors to be sent by post to the creditors simultaneously with the sending of the notices of the said meeting of the company.
(2)The company shall cause notice of the meeting of the creditors to be advertised once in the Gazette and once at least in two local newspapers circulating in the district where the registered office or principal place of business of the company is situate.
(3)The directors of the company shall—
(a)cause a full statement of the position of the company's affairs together with a list of the creditors of the company and the estimated amount of their claims to be laid before the meeting of the creditors to be held as aforesaid; and
(b)appoint one of their number to preside at the said meeting.
(4)It shall be the duty of the director appointed to preside at the meeting of creditors to attend the meeting and preside thereat.
(5)If the meeting of the company at which the resolution for voluntary winding up is to be proposed is adjourned and the resolution is passed at an adjourned meeting, any resolution passed at the meeting of -the creditors held in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section shall have effect as if it had been passed immediately after the passing of the resolution for winding up the company.
(6)If default is made—
(a)by the company in complying with subsections (1) and (2) of this section;
(b)by the directors of the company in complying with subsection (3) of this section;
(c)by any director of the company in complying with subsection (4) of this section;
the company, directors or director, as the case may be, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and, in the case of default by the company, every officer of the company who is in default shall be liable to the like penalty.
The creditors and the company at their respective meetings mentioned in the last foregoing section may nominate a person to be liquidator for the purpose of winding up the affairs and distributing the assets of the company, and if the creditors and the company nominate different persons, the person nominated by the creditors shall be liquidator, and if no person is nominated by the creditors the person, if any, nominated by the company shall be liquidator:
Provided that in the case of different persons being nominated, any director, member or creditor of the company may, within seven days after the date on which the nomination was made by the creditors, apply to the court for an order either directing that the person nominated as liquidator by the company shall be liquidator instead of or jointly with the person nominated by the creditors or appointing some other person to be liquidator instead of the person appointed by the creditors.
(1)The creditors at the meeting to be held in pursuance of section two hundred and ninety-three of this Act or at any subsequent meeting may, if they think fit, appoint a committee of inspection consisting of not more than five persons, and if such a committee is appointed the company may, either at the meeting at which the resolution for voluntary winding up is passed or at any time subsequently in general meeting, appoint such number of persons as they think fit to act as members of the committee not exceeding five in number:
Provided that the creditors may, if they think fit, resolve that all or any of the persons so appointed by the company ought not to be members of the committee of inspection, and, if the creditors so resolve, the persons mentioned in the resolution shall not, unless the court otherwise directs, be qualified to act as members of the committee, and on any application to the court under this provision the court may, if it thinks fit, appoint other persons to act as such members in place of the persons mentioned in the resolution.
(2)Subject to the provisions of this section and to general rules, the provisions of sections two hundred and fifty-three (except subsection (1)) and two hundred and fifty-five of this Act shall apply with respect to a committee of inspection appointed under this section as they apply with respect to a committee of inspection appointed in a winding up by the court.
(1)The committee of inspection, or if there is no such committee, the creditors, may fix the remuneration to be paid to the liquidator or liquidators.
(2)On the appointment of a liquidator, all the powers of the directors shall cease, except so far as the committee of inspection, or if there is no such committee, the creditors, sanction the continuance thereof.
If a vacancy occurs, by death, resignation or otherwise, in the office of a liquidator, other than a .liquidator appointed by, or by the direction of, the court, the creditors may fill the vacancy.
The provisions of section two hundred and eighty-seven of this Act shall apply in the case of a creditors' voluntary winding up as in the case of a members' voluntary winding up, with the modification that the powers of the liquidator under the said section shall not be exercised except with the sanction either of the court or of the committee of inspection.
(1)In the event of the winding up continuing for more than one year, the liquidator shall summon a general meeting of the company and a meeting of the creditors at the end of the first year from the commencement of the winding up, and of each succeeding year, or at the first convenient date within three months from the end of the year or such longer period as the Board of Trade may allow, and shall lay before the meetings an account of his acts and dealings and of the conduct of the winding up during the preceding year.
(2)If the liquidator fails to comply with this section, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.
(1)As soon as the affairs of the company are fully wound up, the liquidator shall make up an account of the winding up, showing how the winding up has been conducted and the property of the company has been disposed of, and thereupon shall call a general meeting of the company and a meeting of the creditors for the purpose of laying the account before the meetings and giving any explanation thereof.
(2)Each such meeting shall be called by advertisement in the Gazette specifying the time, place and object thereof, and published one month at least before the meeting.
(3)Within one week after the date of the meetings, or, if the meetings are not held on the same date, after the date of the later meeting, the liquidator shall send to the registrar of companies a copy of the account, and shall make a return to him of the holding of the meetings and of their dates, and if the copy is not sent or the return is not made in accordance with this subsection the liquidator shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the default continues:
Provided that, if a quorum is not present at either such meeting, the liquidator shall, in lieu of the return hereinbefore mentioned, make a return that the meeting was duly summoned and that no quorum was present thereat and upon such a return being made the provisions of this subsection as to the making of the return shall, in respect of that meeting, be deemed to have been complied with.
(4)The registrar on receiving the account and, in respect of each such meeting, either of the returns hereinbefore mentioned, shall forthwith register them, and on the expiration of three months from the registration thereof the company shall be deemed to be dissolved:
Provided that the court may, on the application of the liquidator or of any other person who appears to the court to be interested, make an order deferring the date at which the dissolution of the company is to take effect for such time as the court thinks fit.
(5)It shall be the duty of the person on whose application an order of the court under this section is made, within seven days after the making of the order, to deliver to the registrar an office copy of the order for registration, and if that person fails so to do he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the default continues.
(6)If the liquidator fails to call a general meeting of the company or a meeting of the creditors as required by this section, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.
The provisions contained in the nine sections of this Act next following shall apply to every voluntary winding up whether a members' or a creditors' winding up.
Subject to the provisions of this Act as to preferential payments, the property of a company shall, on its winding up, be applied in satisfaction of its liabilities pari passu, and, subject to such application, shall, unless the articles otherwise provide, be distributed among the members according to their rights and interests in the company.
(1)The liquidator may—
(a)in the case of a members' voluntary winding up, with the sanction of an extraordinary resolution of the company, and, in the case of a creditors' voluntary winding up, with the sanction of the court or the committee of inspection or (if there is no such committee) a meeting of the creditors, exercise any of the powers given by paragraphs (d), (e) and (f) of sub section (i) of section two hundred and forty-five of this Act to a liquidator in a winding up by the court;
(b)without sanction, exercise any of the other powers by this Act given to the liquidator in a winding up by the court;
(c)exercise the power of the court under this Act of settling a list of contributories, and the list of contributories shall be prima facie evidence of the liability of the persons named therein to be contributories:
(d)exercise the power of the court of making calls;
(e)summon general meetings of the company for the purpose of obtaining the sanction of the company by special or extraordinary resolution or for any other purpose he may think fit.
(2)The liquidator shall pay the debts of the company and shall adjust the rights of the contributories among themselves.
(3)When several liquidators are appointed, any power given by this Act may be exercised by such one or more of them as may be determined at the time of their appointment, or, in default of such determination, by any number not less than two.
(1)If from any cause whatever there is no liquidator acting, the court may appoint a liquidator.
(2)The court may, on cause shown, remove a liquidator and appoint another liquidator.
(1)The liquidator shall, within fourteen days after his appointment, publish in the Gazette and deliver to the registrar of companies for registration a notice of his appointment in the form prescribed by statutory instrument made by the Board of Trade.
(2)If the liquidator fails to comply with the requirements of this section he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the default continues.
(1)Any arrangement entered into between a company about to be, or in the course of being, wound up and its creditors shall, subject to the right of appeal under this section, be binding on the company if sanctioned by an extraordinary resolution and on the creditors if acceded to by three fourths in number and value of the creditors.
(2)Any creditor or contributory may, within three weeks from the completion of the arrangement, appeal to the court against it, and the court may thereupon, as it thinks just, amend, vary or confirm the arrangement
(1)The liquidator or any contributory or creditor may apply to the court to determine any question arising in the winding up of a company, or to exercise, as respects the enforcing of calls or any other matter, all or any of the powers which the -court might exercise if the company were being wound up by the court.
(2)The court, if satisfied that the determination of the question or the required exercise of power will be just and beneficial, may accede wholly or partially to the application on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit or may make such other order on the application as it thinks just.
(3)A copy of an order made by virtue of this section staying the proceedings in the winding up shall forthwith be forwarded by the company, or otherwise as may be prescribed, to the registrar of companies, who shall make a minute of the order in his books relating to the company.
(1)If the court, on the application of the liquidator in the winding up of a company registered in Scotland, so directs, no action or proceeding shall be proceeded with or commenced against the company except by leave of the court and subject to such terms as the court may impose.
(2)Nothing in this section shall be taken to affect the practice or powers of the court as existing immediately before the first day of November, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, with respect to the staying of proceedings against a company registered in England and in course of being wound up.
All costs, charges and expenses properly incurred in the winding up, including the remuneration of the liquidator, shall be payable out of the assets of the company in priority to all other claims.
The winding up of a company shall not bar the right of any creditor or contributory to have it wound up by the court, but in the case of an application by a contributory the court must be satisfied that the rights of the contributories will be prejudiced by a voluntary winding up.
When a company has passed a resolution for voluntary winding up, the court may make an order that the voluntary winding up shall continue but subject to such supervision of the court, and with such liberty for creditors, contributories, or others to apply to the court, and generally on such terms and conditions, as the court thinks just.
A petition for the continuance of a voluntary winding up subject to the supervision of the court shall, for the purpose of giving jurisdiction to the court over actions, be deemed to be a petition for winding up by the court.
A winding up subject to the supervision of the court shall, for the purposes of sections two hundred and twenty-seven and two hundred and twenty-eight of this Act be deemed to be a winding up by the court.
(1)Where an order is made for a winding up subject to supervision, the court may by that or any subsequent order appoint an additional liquidator.
(2)A liquidator appointed by the court under this section shall have the same powers, be subject to the same obligations, and in all respects stand in the same position, as if he had been duly appointed in accordance with the provisions of this Act with respect to the appointment of liquidators in a voluntary winding up.
(3)The court may remove any liquidator so appointed by the court or any liquidator continued under the supervision order and fill any vacancy occasioned by the removal, or by death or resignation.
(1)Where an order is made for a winding up subject to supervision, the liquidator may, subject to any restrictions imposed by the court, exercise all his powers, without the sanction or intervention of the court, in, the same manner as if the company were being wound up altogether voluntarily:
Provided that the powers specified in paragraphs (d), (e) and (f) of subsection (1) of section two hundred and forty-five of this Act shall not be exercised by the liquidator except with the sanction of the court or, in a case where before the order the winding up was a creditors' voluntary winding up, with the sanction of the court or the committee of inspection, or (if there is no such committee) a meeting of the creditors.
(2)A winding up subject to the supervision of the court is not a winding up by the court for the purpose of the provisions of this Act specified in the Eleventh Schedule to this Act, but, subject as aforesaid, an order for a winding up subject to supervision shall for all purposes be deemed to be an order for winding up by the court:
Provided that where the order for winding up subject to supervision was made in relation to a creditors' voluntary winding up in which a committee of inspection had been appointed, the order shall be deemed to be an order for winding up by the court for the purpose of section two hundred and fifty-three (except subsection (1) thereof) and section two hundred and fifty-five of this Act except in so far as the operation of those sections is excluded in a voluntary winding up by general rules.
In every winding up (subject, in the case of insolvent companies, to the application in accordance with the provisions of this Act of the law of bankruptcy) all debts payable on a contingency, and all claims against the company, present or future, certain or contingent, ascertained or sounding only in damages, shall be admissible to proof against the company, a just estimate being made, so far as possible, of the value of such debts or- claims as may be subject to any contingency or sound only in damages, or for some other reason do not bear a certain value.
In the winding up of an insolvent company registered in England the same rules shall prevail and be observed with regard to the respective rights of secured and unsecured creditors and to debts provable and to the valuation of annuities and future and contingent liabilities as are in force for the time being under the law of bankruptcy in England with respect to the estates of persons adjudged bankrupt, and all persons who in any such case would be entitled to prove for and receive dividends out of the assets of the company may come in under the winding up and make such claims against the company as they respectively are entitled to by virtue of this section.
In the winding up of a company registered in Scotland, the following provisions of the [3 & 4 Geo. 5. c. 20.] Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act, 1913, that is to say,—
(a)the provisions of sections forty-five to sixty-two regarding voting and ranking for payment of dividends;
(b)sections ninety-six and one hundred and five, which respectively relate to the reckoning of majorities and to the interruption of prescription;
shall so far as is consistent with this Act apply in like manner as they apply in the sequestration of a bankrupt's estate, with the substitution of references to winding up for references to sequestration, of references to the court for references to the sheriff, of references to the liquidator for references to the trustee, and of references to the company for references to the bankrupt, and with any other necessary modifications.
(1)In a winding up there shall be paid in priority to all other debts—
(a)the following rates and taxes,—
(i)all local rates due from the company at the relevant date, and having become due and payable within twelve months next before that date;
(ii)all land tax, income tax, profits tax, excess profits tax or other assessed taxes assessed on the company up to the fifth day of April next before that date, and not exceeding in the whole one year's assessment;
(iii)the amount of any purchase tax due from the company at the relevant date, and having become due within twelve months next before that date;
(b)all wages or salary (whether or not earned wholly or in part by way of commission) of any clerk or servant in respect of services rendered to the company during four months next before the relevant date and all wages (whether payable for time or for piece work) of any workman or labourer in respect of services so rendered;
(c)any sum ordered under the [7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 15.] Reinstatement in Civil Employment Act, 1944, to be paid by way of compensation where the default by reason of which the order for compensation was made occurred before the relevant date, whether or not the order was made before that date;
(d)all accrued holiday remuneration becoming payable to any clerk, servant, workman or labourer (or in the case of his death to any other person in his right) on the termination of his employment before or by the effect of the winding-up order or resolution;
(e)unless the company is being wound up voluntarily merely for the purposes of reconstruction or of amalgamation with another company, all amounts due in respect of contributions payable during, the twelve months next before the relevant date by the company as the employer of any. persons under the [25 & 26 Geo. 5. c. 8.] Unemployment Insurance Act, 1935, the [26 Geo. 5. & 1 Edw. 8. c. 32.] National Health Insurance Act, 1936, the [26 Geo. 5. & 1 Edw. 8. c. 33.] Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1936, the [9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 62.] National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act, 1946, or the [9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 67.] National Insurance Act, 1946;
(f)unless the company is being wound up voluntarily merely for the purposes of reconstruction or of amalgamation with another company, or unless the company has, at the commencement of the winding up, under such a contract with insurers as is mentioned in section seven of the [15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 84.] Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925, rights capable of being transferred to and vested in the workman, all amounts due in respect of any compensation or liability for compensation under the said Act, being amounts which have accrued before the relevant date in satisfaction of a right which arises or has arisen in respect of employment before the fifth day of July, nineteen hundred and forty-eight (that is to say; the day appointed for the purposes of the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1946);
(g)the amount of any debt which, by virtue of subsection (5) of section three of the [24 & 25 Geo. 5. c. 23.] Workmen's Compensation (Coal Mines) Act, 1934, is due from the company to an insurer in respect of a liability in respect of the satisfaction of a right falling within the last foregoing paragraph.
(2)Notwithstanding anything in paragraphs (b) and (c) of the foregoing subsection, the sum to which priority is to be given under those paragraphs respectively shall not, in the case of any one claimant, exceed two hundred pounds:
Provided that where a claimant Under the said paragraph (b) is a labourer in husbandry who has entered into a contract for the payment of a portion of his wages in a lump sum at the end of the year of hiring, he shall have priority in respect of the whole of such sum, or a part thereof, as the court may decide to be due under the contract, proportionate to the time of service up to the relevant date.
(3)Where any compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925, is a weekly payment, the amount due in respect thereof shall, for the purposes of paragraph (f) of subsection (1) of this section, be taken to be the amount of the lump sum for which the weekly payment could, if redeemable, be redeemed if the employer made an application for that purpose under the said Act.
(4)Where any payment has been made—
(a)to any clerk, servant, workman or labourer in the employment of a company, on account of wages or salary; or
(b)to any such clerk, servant, workman or labourer or, in the case of his death, to any other person in his right, on account of accrued holiday remuneration;
out of money advanced by some person for that purpose, the person by whom the money was advanced shall in a winding up have a right of priority in respect of the money so advanced and paid up to the amount by which the sum in respect of which the clerk, servant, workman or labourer, or other person in his right, would have been entitled to priority in the winding up has been diminished by reason of the payment having been made.
(5)The foregoing debts shall—
(a)rank equally among themselves and be paid in full, unless the assets are insufficient to meet them, in which case they shall abate in equal proportions; and
(b)in the case of a company registered in England, so far as the assets of the company available for payment of general creditors are insufficient to meet them, have priority over the claims of holders of debentures under any floating charge created by the company, and be paid accordingly out of any property comprised in or subject to that charge.
(6)Subject to the retention of such sums as may be necessary for the costs and expenses of the winding up, the foregoing debts shall be discharged forthwith so far as the assets are sufficient to meet them, and in the case of the debts to which priority is given by paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of this section formal proof thereof shall not be required except in so far as is otherwise provided by general rules.
(7)In the event of a landlord or other person distraining or having distrained on any goods or effects of the company within three months next before the date of a winding up order, the debts to which priority is given by this section shall be a first charge on the goods or effects so distrained on, or the proceeds of the sale thereof:
Provided that, in respect of any money paid under any such charge, the landlord or other person shall have the same rights of priority as the person to whom the payment is made.
(8)For the purposes of this section—
(a)any remuneration in respect of a period of holiday or of absence from work through sickness or other good cause shall be deemed to be wages in respect of services rendered to the company during that period;
(b)the expression “accrued holiday remuneration ” includes, in relation to any person, all sums which, by virtue either of his contract of employment or of any enactment (including any order made or direction given under any Act), are payable on account of the remuneration which would, in the ordinary course, have become payable to him in respect of a period of holiday had his employment with the company continued until he became entitled to be allowed the holiday;
(c)references to remuneration in respect of a period of holiday include any sums which, if they had been paid, would have been treated for the purposes of the National Insurance Act, 1946, or any enactment repealed by that Act as remuneration in respect of that period; and
(d)the expression “the relevant date ” means—
(i)in the case of a company ordered to be wound up compulsorily, the date of the appointment (or first appointment) of a provisional liquidator, or, if no such appointment was made, the date of the winding-up order, unless in either case the company had commenced to be wound up voluntarily before that date; and
(ii)in any case where the foregoing sub-paragraph does not apply, means the date of the passing of the resolution for the winding up of the company.
(9)This section shall not apply in the case of a winding up where the relevant date as defined in subsection (7) of section two hundred and sixty-four of the Companies Act, 1929, as originally enacted, occurred before the commencement of this Act, and in such a case the provisions relating to preferential payments which would have applied if this Act had not passed shall be deemed to remain in full force.
(1)Any conveyance, mortgage, delivery of goods, payment, execution or other act relating- to property made or done by or against a company within six months before the commencement of its winding up which, had it been made or done by or against an individual within six months before the presentation of a bankruptcy petition on which he is adjudged bankrupt, would be deemed in his bankruptcy a fraudulent preference, shall in the event of the company being wound up be deemed a fraudulent preference of its creditors and be invalid accordingly:
Provided that, in relation to things made or done before the commencement of this Act, this subsection shall have effect with the substitution, for references to six months, of references to three months.
(2)Any conveyance or assignment by a company of all its property to trustees for the benefit of all its creditors shall be void to all intents.
(3)In the application to Scotland of this section, the expression “fraudulent preference ” includes any alienation or preference which is voidable by statute or at common law on the ground of insolvency or notour bankruptcy, the expression “bankruptcy petition ” means petition for sequestration and for the words “three months ” there shall be substituted the words “sixty days ”.
(1)Where, in the case of a company wound up in England, anything made or done after the commencement of this Act is void under the last foregoing section as a fraudulent preference of a person interested in property mortgaged or charged to secure the company's debt, then (without prejudice to any rights or liabilities arising apart from this provision) the person preferred shall be subject to the same liabilities, and shall have the same rights, as if he had undertaken to be personally liable as surety for the debt to the extent of the charge on the property or the value of his interest, whichever is the less.
(2)The value of the said person's interest shall be determined as at the date of the transaction constituting the fraudulent preference, and shall be determined as if the interest were free of all incumbrances other than those to which the charge for the company's debt was then subject.
(3)On any application made to the court with respect to any payment on the ground that the payment was a fraudulent preference of a surety or guarantor, the court shall have jurisdiction to determine any questions with respect to the payment arising between the person to whom the payment was made and the surety or guarantor and to grant relief in respect thereof, notwithstanding that it is not necessary so to do for the purposes of the winding up, and for that purpose may give leave to bring in the surety or guarantor as a third party as in the case of an action for the recovery of the sum paid.
This subsection shall apply, with the necessary modifications, in relation to transactions other than the payment of money as it applies in relation to payments.
(1)Where a company is being wound up, a floating charge on the undertaking or property of the company created within twelve months of the commencement of the winding up shall, unless it is proved that the company immediately after the creation of the charge was solvent, be invalid, except to the amount of any cash paid to the company at the time of or subsequently to the creation of, and in consideration for, the charge, together with interest on that amount at the rate of five per cent. per annum or such other rate as may for the time being be prescribed by order of the Treasury:
Provided that, in relation to a charge created more than six months before the commencement of this Act, this section shall have effect with the substitution, for the words “twelve months ” , of the words “six months ”.
(2)The power conferred by this section on the Treasury shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(1)Where any part of the property of a company which is being wound up consists of land of any tenure burdened with onerous covenants, of shares or stock in companies, of unprofitable contracts, or of any other property that is unsaleable, or not readily saleable, by reason of its binding the possessor thereof to the performance of any onerous act or to the payment of any sum of money, the liquidator of the company, notwithstanding that he has endeavoured to sell or has taken possession of the property or exercised any act of ownership in relation thereto, may, with the leave of the court and subject to the provisions of this section, by writing signed by him, at any time within twelve months after the commencement of the winding up or such extended period as may be allowed by the court, disclaim the property:
Provided that, where any such property has not come to the knowledge of the liquidator within one month after the commencement of the winding up, the power under this section of disclaiming the property may be exercised at any time within twelve months after he has become aware thereof or such extended period as may be allowed by the court.
(2)The disclaimer shall operate to determine, as from the date of disclaimer, the rights, interest and liabilities of the company, and the property of the company, in or in respect of the property disclaimed, but shall not, except so far as is necessary for the purpose of releasing the company and the property of the company from liability, affect the rights or liabilities of any other person.
(3)The court, before or on granting leave to disclaim, may require such notices to be given to persons interested, and impose such terms as a condition of granting leave, and make such other order in the matter as the court thinks just.
(4)The liquidator shall not be entitled to disclaim any property under this section in any case where an application in writing has been made to him by any persons interested in the property requiring him to decide whether he will or will not disclaim and the liquidator has not, within a period of twenty-eight days after the receipt of the application or such further period as may be allowed by the court, given notice to the applicant that he intends to apply to the court for leave to disclaim, and, in the case of a contract, if the liquidator, after such an application as aforesaid, does not within the said period or further period disclaim the contract, the company shall be deemed to have adopted it.
(5)The court may, on the application of any person who is, as against the liquidator, entitled to the benefit or subject to the burden of a contract made with the company, make an order rescinding the contract on such terms as to payment by or to either party of damages for the non-performance of the contract, or otherwise as the court thinks just, and any damages payable under the order to any such person may be proved by him as a debt in the winding up.
(6)The court may, on an application by any person who either claims any interest in any disclaimed property or is under any liability not discharged by this Act in respect of any disclaimed property and on hearing any such persons as it thinks fit, make an order for the vesting of the property in or the delivery of the property to any persons entitled thereto, or to whom it may seem just that the property should be delivered by way of compensation for such liability as aforesaid, or a trustee for him, and on such terms as the court thinks just, and on any such vesting order being made, the property comprised therein shall vest accordingly in the person therein named in that behalf without any conveyance or assignment for the purpose:
Provided that, where the property disclaimed is of a leasehold nature, the court shall not make a vesting order in favour of any person claiming under the company, whether as under-lessee or as mortgagee by demise, including a chargee by way of legal mortgage, except upon the terms of making that person—
(a)subject to the same liabilities and obligations as those to which the company was subject under the lease in respect of the property at the commencement of the winding up; or
(b)if the court thinks fit, subject only to the same liabilities and obligations as if the lease had been assigned to that person at that date;
and in either event (if the case so requires) as if the lease had comprised only the property comprised in the vesting order, and any mortgagee or under-lessee declining to accept a vesting order upon such terms shall be excluded from all interest in and security upon the property, and, if there is no person claiming under the company who is willing to accept an order upon such terms, the court shall have power to vest the estate and interest of the company in the property in any person liable either personally or in a representative character, and either alone or jointly with the company, to perform the lessee's covenants in the lease, freed and discharged from all estates, incumbrances and interests created therein by the company.
(7)Any person injured by the operation of a disclaimer under this section shall be deemed to be a creditor of the company to the amount of the injury, and may accordingly prove the amount as a debt in the winding up.
(8)This section shall not apply in the case of a winding up in Scotland.
(1)Where on a disclaimer under the last preceding section land in England vests subject to a rentcharge in the Crown or any other person that shall not, subject to the next following subsection, impose on the Crown or the said other person or its or his successors in title any personal liability in respect of the rentcharge.
(2)This section shall not affect any liability in respect of sums accruing due after the Crown or the said other person, or some person claiming through or under the Crown or the said other person, has taken possession or control of the land or has entered into occupation thereof.
(3)This section shall apply to land vesting and sums accruing due before, as well as after, the commencement of this Act.
(1)Where a creditor has issued execution against the goods or lands of a company or has attached any debt due to the company, and the company is subsequently wound up, he shall not be entitled to retain the benefit of the execution or attachment against the liquidator in the winding up of the company unless he has completed the execution or attachment before the commencement of the winding up:
Provided that—
(a)where any creditor has had notice of a meeting having been called at which a resolution for voluntary winding up is to be proposed, the date on which the creditor so had notice shall, for the purposes of the foregoing provision, be substituted for the date of the commencement of the winding up;
(b)a person who purchases in good faith under a sale by the sheriff any goods of a company on which an execution has been levied shall in all cases acquire a good title to them against the liquidator; and
(c)the rights conferred by this subsection on the liquidator may be set aside by the court in favour of the creditor to such extent and subject to such terms as the court may think fit.
(2)For the purposes of this section, an execution against goods shall be taken to be completed by seizure and sale, and an attachment of a debt shall be deemed to be completed by receipt of the debt, and an execution against land shall be deemed to be completed by seizure and, in the case of an equitable interest, by the appointment of a receiver.
(3)In this section the expression “goods ” includes all chattels personal, and the expression “sheriff ” includes any officer charged with the execution of a writ or other process.
(4)This section shall not apply in the case of a winding up in Scotland.
(1)Subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, where any goods of a company are taken in execution, and, before the sale thereof or the completion of the execution by the receipt or. recovery of the full amount of the levy, notice is served on the sheriff that a provisional liquidator has been appointed or that a winding-up order has been made or that a resolution for voluntary winding up has been passed, the sheriff shall, on being so required, deliver the goods and any money seized or received in part satisfaction of'the execution to the liquidator, but the costs of the execution shall be a first charge on the goods or money so delivered, and the liquidator may sell the goods, or a sufficient part thereof, for the purpose of satisfying that charge.
(2)Subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, where under an execution in respect of a judgment for a sum exceeding twenty pounds the goods of a company are sold or money is paid in order to avoid sale, the sheriff shall deduct the costs of the execution from the proceeds of the sale or the money paid and retain the balance for fourteen days, and if within that time notice is served on him of a petition for the winding up of the company having been presented or of a meeting having been called at which there is to be proposed a resolution for the voluntary winding up of the company and an order is made or a resolution is passed, as the case may be, for the winding up of the company, the sheriff shall pay the balance to the liquidator, who shall be entitled to retain it as against the execution creditor.
(3)The rights conferred by this section on the liquidator may be set aside by the court in favour of the creditor to such extent and subject to such terms as the court thinks fit.
(4)In this section the expression “goods ” includes all chattels personal, and the expression “sheriff ” includes any officer charged with the execution of a writ or other process.
(5)This section shall not apply in the case of a winding up in Scotland.
(1)In the winding up of a company registered in Scotland, the following provisions shall have effect:—
(a)the winding up shall, as at the date of the commencement thereof, be equivalent to an arrestment in execution and decree of furthcoming, and to an executed or completed poinding, and no arrestment or poinding of the funds or effects of the company executed on or after the sixtieth day prior to that date shall be effectual, and those funds or effects or the proceeds of those effects if sold shall be made forthcoming to the liquidator:
Provided that any arrester or poinder before that date who is thus deprived of the benefit of his diligence shall have preference out of those funds or effects for the expense bona fide incurred by him in such diligence;
(b)the winding up shall, as at the date aforesaid, be equivalent to a decree of adjudication of the heritable estates of the company for payment of the whole debts of the company, principal and interest, accumulated at the said date, subject to such preferable heritable rights and securities as existed at the said date and are valid and unchallengeable, and the right to poind the ground hereinafter provided;
(c)the provisions of sections one hundred and eight to one hundred and thirteen and of section' one hundred and sixteen of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act, 1913, shall, so far as is consistent with this Act, apply to the realisation of heritable estates affected by such heritable rights and securities as aforesaid, and for the purposes of this Act the words “sequestration ” and “trustee ” occurring in those sections shall mean respectively “winding up ” and “liquidator,” and the expression “the Lord Ordinary or the court ” shall mean “the court ” as defined by this Act with respect to Scotland;
(d)no poinding of the ground which has not been carried into execution by sale of the effects sixty days before the date aforesaid shall, except to the extent hereinafter provided, be available in any question with the liquidator:
Provided that no creditor who holds a security over the heritable estate preferable to the right of the liquidator shall be prevented from executing a poinding of the ground after the date aforesaid, but that poinding shall in competition with the liquidator be available only for the interest on the debt for the current half-yearly term, and for the arrears of interest for one year immediately before the commencement of that term.
(2)The provisions of this section shall, so far as relates to any estate or effects of the company situate in Scotland, apply in the case of a company registered in England as it applies in the case of a company registered in Scotland.
(1)If any person, being a past or present officer of a company which at the time of the commission of the alleged offence is being wound up, whether by or under the supervision of the court or voluntarily, or is subsequently ordered to be wound up by the court or subsequently passes a resolution for voluntary winding up—
(a)does not to the best of his knowledge and belief fully and truly discover to the liquidator all the property, real and personal, of the company, and how and to whom and for what consideration and when the company disposed of any part thereof, except such part as has been disposed of in the ordinary way of the business of the company; or
(b)does not deliver up to the liquidator, or as he directs, all such part of the real and personal property of the company as is in his custody or under his control, and which he is required by law to deliver up; or
(c)does not deliver up to the liquidator, or as he directs, all books and papers in his custody or under his control belonging to the company and which he is required by law to deliver up; or
(d)within twelve months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter conceals any part of the property of the company to the value of ten pounds or upwards, or conceals any debt due to or from the company; or
(e)within twelve months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter fraudulently removes any part of the property of the company to the value of ten pounds or upwards; or
(f)makes any material omission in any statement relating to the affairs of the company; or
(g)knowing or believing that a false debt has been proved by any person under the winding up, fails for the period of a month to inform the liquidator thereof; or
(h)after the commencement of the winding up prevents the production of any book or paper affecting or relating to the property or affairs of the company; or
(i)within twelve months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter, conceals, destroys, mutilates or falsifies, or is privy to the concealment, destruction, mutilation or falsification of, any book or paper affecting or relating to the property or affairs of the company; or
(j)within twelve months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter makes or is privy to the making of any false entry in any book or paper affecting or relating to the property or affairs of the company; or
(k)within twelve months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter fraudulently parts with, alters or makes any omission in, or is privy to the fraudulent parting with, altering or making any omission in, any document affecting or relating to the property or affairs of the company; or
(l)after the commencement of the winding up or at any meeting of the creditors of the company within twelve months next before, the commencement of the winding up attempts to account for any part of the property of the company by fictitious losses or expenses; or
(m)has within twelve months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter, by any false representation or other fraud, obtained any property for or on behalf of the company on credit which the company does not subsequently pay for; or
(n)within twelve months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter, under the false pretence that the company is carrying on its business, obtains on credit, for or on behalf of the company, any property which the company does not subsequently pay for; or
(o)within twelve months next before the commencement of the winding up or at any time thereafter pawns, pledges or disposes of any property of the company which has been obtained on credit and has not been paid for, unless such pawning, pledging, or disposing is in the ordinary way of the business of the company; or
(p)is guilty of any false representation or other fraud for the purpose of obtaining the consent of the creditors of the company or any of them to an agreement with reference to the affairs of the company or to the winding up;
he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall, in the case of the offences mentioned respectively in paragraphs (m), (n) and (o) of this subsection, be liable on conviction on indictment to penal servitude for a term not exceeding five years, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, and in the case of any other offence shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months:
Provided that it shall be a good defence to a charge under any of paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), (f), (a) and (o), if the accused proves that he had no intent to defraud, and to a charge under any of paragraphs (h), (i) and (j), if he proves that he had no intent to conceal the state of affairs of the company or to defeat the law.
(2)Where any person pawns, pledges or disposes of any property in circumstances which amount to a misdemeanour under paragraph (f)) of subsection (1) of this section, every person who takes in pawn or pledge or otherwise receives the property knowing it to be pawned, pledged or disposed of in such circumstances as aforesaid shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and on conviction thereof liable—
(a)in England to be punished in the same way as if he had received the property knowing it to have been obtained in circumstances amounting to a misdemeanour;
(b)in Scotland on conviction on indictment to penal servitude for a period not exceeding seven years, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to both such imprisonment and fine.
(3)For the purposes of this section, the expression “officer ” shall include any person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the directors of a company have been accustomed to act.
If any officer or contributory of any company being wound up destroys, mutilates, alters or falsifies any books, papers or securities, or makes or is privy to the making of any false or fraudulent entry in any register, book of account or document belonging to the company with intent to defraud or deceive any person, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and be liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour.
If any person, being at the time of the commission of the alleged offence am officer of a company which is subsequently ordered to be wound up by the court or subsequently passes a resolution for voluntary winding up,—
(a)has by false pretences or by means of any other fraud induced any person to give credit to the company;
(b)with intent to defraud creditors of the company, has made or caused to be made any "tifft or transfer of or charge on, or has caused or connived at the levying of any execution against, the property of the company ;
(c)with intent to defraud creditors of the company, has concealed or removed any part of the property of the company since, or within two months before, the date of any unsatisfied judgment or order for payment of money obtained against the company ;
he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months.
(1)If where a company is wound up it is shown that proper books of account were not kept by the company throughout the period of two years immediately preceding the commencement of the winding up, or the period between the incorporation of the company and the commencement of the winding up, whichever is the shorter, every officer of the company who is in default shall, unless he shows that he acted honestly and that in the circumstances in which the business of the company was carried on the default was excusable, be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.
(2)For the purposes of this section, proper books of account shall be deemed not to have been kept in the case of any company if there have not been kept such books or accounts as are necessary to exhibit and explain the transactions and financial position of the trade or business of the company, including books containing entries from day to day in sufficient detail of all cash received and cash paid, and, where the trade or business has involved dealings in goods, statements of the annual stocktakings and (except in the case of goods sold by way of ordinary retail trade) of all goods sold and purchased, showing the goods and the buyers and sellers thereof in sufficient detail to enable those goods and those buyers and sellers to be identified.
(1)If in the course of the winding up of a company it appears that any business of the company has been carried on with intent to defraud creditors of the company or creditors of any other person or for any fraudulent purpose, the court, on the application of the official receiver, or the liquidator or any creditor or contributory of the company, may, if it thinks proper so to do, declare that any persons who were knowingly parties to the carrying on of the business in manner aforesaid shall be personally responsible, without any limitation of liability, for all or any of the debts or other liabilities of the company as the court may direct.
On the hearing of an application under this subsection the official receiver or the liquidator, as the case may be, may himself give evidence or call witnesses.
(2)Where the court makes any such declaration, it may give such further directions as it thinks proper for the purpose of giving effect to that declaration, and in particular may make provision for making the liability of any such person under the declaration a charge on any debt or obligation due from the company to him, or on any mortgage or charge or any interest in any mortgage or charge on any assets of the company held by or vested in him, or any company or person on his behalf, or any person claiming as assignee from or through the person liable or any company or person acting on his behalf, and may from time to time make such further order as may be necessary for the purpose of enforcing any charge imposed under this subsection.
For the purpose of this subsection, the expression “assignee ” includes any person to whom or in whose favour, by the directions of the person liable, the debt, obligation, mortgage or charge was created, issued or transferred or the interest created, but does not include an assignee for valuable consideration (not including consideration by way of marriage) given in good faith and without notice of any of the matters on the ground of which the declaration is made.
(3)Where any business of a company is carried on with such intent or for such purpose as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, every person who was knowingly a party to the carrying on of the business in manner aforesaid, shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds or to both.
(4)The provisions of this section shall have effect notwithstanding that the-person concerned may be criminally liable in respect of the matters on the ground of which the declaration is to be made, and where the declaration under subsection (1) of this section is made in the case of a winding up in England, the declaration shall be deemed to be a final judgment within the meaning of paragraph (g) of subsection (1) of section one of the [4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 59.] Bankruptcy Act, 1914.
(1)If in the course of winding, up a company it appears that any person who has taken part in the formation or promotion of the company, or any past or present director, manager or liquidator, or any officer of the company, has misapplied or retained or become liable or accountable for any money or property of the company, or been guilty of any misfeasance or breach of trust in relation to the company, the court may, on the application of the official receiver, or of the liquidator, or of any creditor or contributory, examine into the conduct of the promoter, director, manager, liquidator or officer, and compel him to repay or restore the money or property or any part thereof respectively with interest at such rate as the court thinks just, or to contribute such sum to the assets of the company by way of compensation in respect of the misapplication, retainer, misfeasance or breach of trust as the court thinks just.
(2)The provisions of this section shall have effect notwithstanding that the offence is one for which the offender may be criminally liable.
(3)Where in the case of a winding up in England an order for payment of money is made under this section, the order shall be deemed to be a final judgment within the meaning of paragraph (g) of subsection (1) of section one of the Bankruptcy Act, 1914.
(1)If it appears to the court in the course of a winding up by, or subject to the supervision of, the court that any past or present officer, or any member, of the company has been guilty of any offence in relation to the company for which he is criminally liable, the court may, either on the application of any person interested in the winding up or of its own motion, direct the liquidator to refer the matter, in the case of a winding up in England, to the Director of Public Prosecutions, and, in the case of a winding up in Scotland, to the Lord Advocate.
(2)If it appears to the liquidator in the course of a voluntary winding up that any past or present officer, or any member, of the company has been guilty of "any offence in relation to the company for which he is criminally liable, he shall forthwith report the matter, in the case of a winding up in England, to the Director of Public Prosecutions, and, in the case of a winding up in Scotland, to the Lord Advocate and shall furnish to the Director or Lord Advocate, as the case may be, such information and give to him such access to and facilities for inspecting and taking copies of any documents, being information or documents in the possession or under the control of the liquidator and relating to the matter in question, as they respectively may require.
(3)Where any report is made under the last foregoing subsection to the Director of Public Prosecutions or Lord Advocate, he may, if he thinks fit, refer the matter to the Board of Trade for further enquiry, and the Board shall thereupon investigate the matter and may if they think it expedient, apply to the court for an order conferring on the Board or any person designated by the Board for the purpose with respect to the company concerned all such powers of investigating the affairs of the company as are provided by this Act in the case of a winding up by the court.
(4)If it appears to the court in the course of a voluntary winding up that any past or present officer, or any member, of the company has been guilty as aforesaid, and that no report with respect to the matter has been made by the liquidator to the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Lord Advocate under subsection (2) of this section, the court may, on the application of any person interested in the winding up or of its own motion, direct the liquidator to make such a report, and on a report being made accordingly the provisions of this section shall have effect as though the report had been made in pursuance of the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.
(5)If, where any matter is reported or referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions or Lord Advocate under this section, he considers that the case is one in which a prosecution ought to be instituted, he shall institute proceedings accordingly, and it shall be the duty of the liquidator and of every officer and agent of the company past and present (other than the defendant in the proceedings) to give him all assistance in connection with the prosecution which he is reasonably able to give.
For the purposes of this subsection, the expression “agent ” in relation to a company shall be deemed to include any banker or solicitor of the company and any person employed by the company as auditor, whether that person is or is not an officer of the company.
(6)If any person fails or neglects to give assistance in manner required by the last foregoing subsection, the court may, on the application of the Director of Public Prosecutions or Lord Advocate, as the case may be, direct that person to comply with the requirements of the said subsection, and where any such application is made with respect to a liquidator the court may, unless it appears that the failure or neglect to comply was due to the liquidator not having in his hands sufficient assets of the company to enable him so to do, direct that the costs of the application shall be borne by the liquidator personally.
A body corporate shall not be qualified for appointment as liquidator of a company, whether in a winding up by or under the supervision of the court or in a voluntary winding up, and—
(a)any. appointment made in contravention of this provision shall be void; and
(b)any body corporate which acts as liquidator of a company shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.
Any person who gives or agrees or offers to give to any member or creditor of a company any valuable consideration with a view to securing his own appointment or nomination, or to securing or preventing the appointment or nomination of some person other than himself, as the company's liquidator shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.
(1)If any liquidator who has made any default in filing, delivering or making any return, account or other document, or in giving any notice which he is by law required to file, deliver, make or give, fails to make good the default within fourteen days after the service on him of a notice requiring him to do so, the court may, on an application made to the court by any contributory or creditor of the company or by the registrar of companies, make an order directing the liquidator to make good the default within such time as may be specified in the order.
(2)Any such order may provide that all costs of and incidental to the application shall be borne by the liquidator.
(3)Nothing in this section shall be taken to prejudice the operation of any enactment imposing penalties on a liquidator in respect of any such default as aforesaid.
(1)Where a company is being wound up, whether by or under the supervision of the court or voluntarily, every invoice, order for goods or business letter issued by or on behalf of the company or a liquidator of the company, or a receiver or manager of the property of the company, being a document on or in which the name of the company appears, shall contain a statement that the company is being wound up.
(2)If default is made in complying with this section, the company and any of the following persons who knowingly and wilfully authorises or permits the default, namely, any officer of the company, any liquidator of the company and any receiver or manager, shall be liable to a fine of twenty pounds.
(1)In the case of a winding up by the court of a company registered in England, or of a creditors' voluntary winding up of such a company,—
(a)every assurance relating solely to freehold or leasehold property, or to any mortgage, charge or other encumbrance on, or any estate, right or interest in, any real or personal property, which forms part of the assets of the company and which, after the execution of the assurance, either at law or in equity, is or remains part of the assets of the company; and
(b)every power of attorney, proxy paper, writ, order, certificate, affidavit, bond or other instrument or writing relating solely to the property of any company which is being so wound up, or to any proceeding under any such winding up,
shall be exempt from duties chargeable under the enactments relating to stamp duties.
(2)In the case of such a winding up as aforesaid of a company registered in Scotland—
(a)every conveyance relating solely to property which forms part of the assets of the company and which, after the execution of the conveyance, is or remains the property of the company for the benefit of its creditors; and
(b)every power of attorney, commission, factory, oath, affidavit, articles of group or sale, submission, decree arbitral, and every other instrument and writing whatsoever relating solely to the property of the company; and
(c)every deed or writing forming a part of the proceedings in the winding up,
shall be exempt from duties chargeable under the enactments relating to stamp duties.
(3)In subsection (1) of this section the expression “assurance ” includes deed, conveyance, assignment and surrender, and in subsection (2) of this section the expression “conveyance ” includes assignation, instrument, discharge, writing and deed.
Where a company is being wound up, all books and papers of the company and of the liquidators shall, as between the contributories of the company, be prima facie evidence of the truth of all matters purporting to be therein recorded.
(1)When a company has been wound up and is about to be dissolved, the books and papers of the company and of the liquidators may be disposed of as follows, that is to say:—
(a)in the case of a winding up by or subject to the supervision of the court, in such way as the court directs;
(b)in the case of a members' voluntary winding up, in such way as the company by extraordinary resolution directs, and, in the case of a creditors' voluntary winding up, in such way as the committee of inspection or, if there is no such committee, as the creditors of the company, may direct.
(2)After five years from the dissolution of the company no responsibility shall rest on the company, the liquidators, or any person to whom the custody of the books and papers has been committed, by reason of any book or paper not being forthcoming to any person claiming to be interested therein.
(3)Provision may be made by general rules for enabling the Board of Trade to prevent, for such period (not exceeding five years from the dissolution of the company) as the Board think proper, the destruction of the books and papers of a company which has been wound up, and for enabling any creditor or contributory of the company to make representations to the Board and to appeal to the court from any direction which may be given by the Board in the matter.
(4)If any person acts in contravention of any general rules made for the purposes of this section or of any direction of the Board thereunder, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.
(1)If where a company is being wound up the winding up is not concluded within one year after its commencement, the liquidator shall, at such intervals as may be prescribed, until the winding up is concluded, send to the registrar of companies a statement in the prescribed form and containing the prescribed particulars with respect to the proceedings in and position of the liquidation.
(2)If a liquidator fails to comply with this section, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds for each day during which the default continues.
(1)If, where a company is being wound up in England, it appears either from any statement sent to the registrar under the last foregoing section or otherwise that a liquidator has in his hands or under his control any money representing unclaimed or undistributed assets of the company which have remained unclaimed or undistributed for six months after the date of their receipt or any money held by the company in trust in respect of dividends or other sums due to any person as a member of the company, the liquidator shall forthwith pay the said money to the Companies Liquidation Account at the Bank of England, and shall be entitled to the prescribed certificate of receipt for the money so paid, and that certificate shall be an effectual discharge to him in respect thereof.
(2)For the purpose of ascertaining and getting in any money payable into the Bank of England in pursuance of this section, the like powers may be exercised, and by the like authority, as are exercisable under section one hundred and fifty-three of the Bankruptcy Act, 1914, for the purpose of ascertaining and getting in the sums, funds and dividends referred to in that section.
(3)Any person claiming to be entitled to any money paid into the Bank of England in pursuance of this section may apply to the Board of Trade for payment thereof, and the Board may, on a certificate by the liquidator that the person claiming is entitled, make an order for the payment to that person of the sum due.
(4)Any person dissatisfied with the decision of the Board of Trade in respect of a claim made in pursuance of this section may appeal to the High Court.
When a company registered in Scotland has been wound up, and is about to be dissolved, the liquidator shall lodge in a joint stock bank of issue in Scotland (not being a bank in or of which the liquidator is acting partner, manager, agent or cashier) in the name of the Accountant of Court the whole unclaimed dividends and unapplied or undistributable balances, and the deposit receipts therefor shall be transmitted to the Accountant of Court, and the provisions of section one hundred and fifty-three of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act, 1913, so far as consistent with this Act, shall, with any necessary modifications, apply to sums lodged in a bank in pursuance of this section in like manner as they apply to sums deposited in pursuance of that enactment.
Where a resolution is passed at an adjourned meeting of any creditors or contributories of a company, the resolution shall, for all purposes, be treated as having been passed on the date on which it was in fact passed, and shall not be deemed to have been passed on any earlier date.
(1)The court may, as to all matters relating to the winding up of a company, have regard to the wishes of the creditors or contributories of the company, as proved to it by any sufficient evidence, and may, if it thinks fit, for the purpose of ascertaining those wishes, direct meetings of the creditors or contributories to be called, held and conducted in such manner as the court directs, and may appoint a person to act as chairman of any such meeting and to report the result thereof to the court.
(2)In the case of creditors, regard shall be had to the value of each creditor's debt.
(3)In the case of contributories, regard shall be had to the number of votes conferred on each contributory by this Act or the articles.
In all proceedings under this Part of this Act, all courts, judges and persons judicially acting, and all officers, judicial or ministerial, of any court, or employed in enforcing the process of any court, shall take judicial notice of the signature of any officer of the High Court or of a county court in England, or of the Court of Session or of a sheriff court in Scotland, or of the High Court in Northern Ireland, and also of the official seal or stamp of the several offices of the High Court in England or Northern Ireland, or of the Court of Session, appended to or impressed on any document made, issued or signed under the provisions of this Part of this Act, or any official copy thereof.
(1)The judges of the county courts in England who sit at places more than twenty miles from the General Post Office, and in Northern Ireland the judge exercising the bankruptcy jurisdiction of the High Court and county court judges and recorders, and the sheriffs of counties in Scotland, shall be commissioners for the purpose of taking evidence under this Act, where a company is wound up in England or Scotland, and the court may refer the whole or any part of the examination of any witnesses under this Act to any person hereby appointed commissioner although he is out of the jurisdiction of the court that made the winding up order.
(2)Every commissioner shall, in addition to any powers which he might lawfully exercise as a judge of county courts, judge exercising the said bankruptcy jurisdiction, county court judge, recorder or sheriff, have in the matter so referred to him all the same powers of summoning and examining witnesses, of requiring the production or delivery of documents, of punishing defaults by witnesses, and of allowing costs and expenses to witnesses, as the court which made the winding-up order.
(3)The examination so taken shall be returned or reported to the court which made the order in such manner as that court directs.
(1)The court may direct the examination in Scotland of any person for the time being in Scotland, whether a contributory of the company or not, in regard to the trade, dealings, affairs or property of any company in course of being wound up, or of any person being a contributory of the company, so far as the company may be interested therein by reason of his being a contributory.
(2)The order or commission to take the examination aforesaid shall be directed to the sheriff of the county in which the person to be examined is residing or happens to be for the time, and the sheriff shall summon that person to appear before him at a time and place to be specified in the summons for examination on oath as a witness or as a haver, and to produce any books or papers called for which are in his possession or power.
(3)The sheriff may take the examination either orally or on written interrogatories, and shall report the same in writing in the usual form to the court, and shall transmit with the report the books and papers produced, if the originals thereof are required and specified by the order or commission, or otherwise copies thereof or extracts therefrom authenticated by the sheriff.
(4)If any person so summoned fails to appear at the time and place specified, or refuses to be examined or to make the production required, the sheriff shall proceed against him as a witness or haver duly cited and failing to appear or refusing to give evidence or make production may be proceeded against by the law of Scotland.
(5)The sheriff shall be entitled to such fees, and the witness shall be entitled to such allowances, as sheriffs when acting as commissioners under appointment from the Court of Session and as witnesses and havers are entitled to in the like cases according to the law and practice of Scotland.
(6)If any objection is stated to the sheriff by the witness, either on the ground of his incompetency as a witness, or as to the production required, or on any other ground, the sheriff may, if he thinks fit, report the objection to the .court, and suspend the examination of the witness until it has been disposed of by the court.
(1)Where any petition or application for leave to proceed with an action or proceeding against a company which is being wound up in Scotland is unopposed and is granted by the court, the costs of such petition or application shall, unless the court otherwise directs, be added to the amount of the claim of the petitioner or applicant against the company.
(2)Nothing in this section shall be taken to affect the practice or powers of the court as existing immediately before the first day of November, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, with respect to the costs of an application for leave to proceed with an action or proceeding against a company which is being wound up in England.
(1)Any affidavit required to be sworn under the provisions or for the purposes of this Part of this Act may be sworn in the United Kingdom, or. elsewhere within the dominions of His Majesty, before any court, judge or person lawfully authorised to take and receive affidavits or before any of His Majesty's consuls or vice-consuls in any place outside His Majesty's dominions.
(2)All courts, judges, justices, commissioners and persons acting judicially shall take judicial notice of the seal or stamp or signature, as the case may be, of any such court, judge, person, consul or vice-consul attached, appended or subscribed to any such affidavit, or to any other document to be used for the purposes of this Part of this Act.
(3)Subsection (2) of section six of the [6 & 7 Geo. 6. c. 35.] Foreign Service Act, 1943 (which empowers His Majesty by Order in Council to make such amendments of any enactment as appear to him to be consequential on the establishment or reorganisation of His foreign service, including, in particular, such amendments of any reference to an office, rank or grade as appear to Him to be consequential on the abolition or alteration of the description thereof or on the creation of any new office, rank or grade corresponding thereto) shall have effect as if the reference to any enactment included a reference to this section.
(1)Where a company has been dissolved, the court may at any time within two years of the date of the dissolution, on an application being made for the purpose by the liquidator of the company or by any other person who appears to the court to be interested, make an order, upon such terms as the court thinks fit, declaring the dissolution to have been void, and thereupon such proceedings may be taken as might have been taken if the company had not been dissolved.
(2)It shall be the duty of the person on whose application the order was made, within seven days after the making of the order, or such further time as the court may allow, to deliver to the registrar of companies for registration an office copy of the order, and if that person fails so to do he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the default continues.
(1)Where the registrar of companies has reasonable cause to believe that a company is not carrying on business or in operation, he may send to the company by post a letter inquiring whether the company is carrying on business or in operation.
(2)If the registrar does not within one month of sending the letter receive any answer thereto, he shall within fourteen days after the expiration of the month send to the company by post a registered letter referring to the first letter, and stating that no answer thereto has been received, and that if an answer is not received to the second letter within one month from the date thereof, a notice will be published in the Gazette with a view to striking the name of the company off the register.
(3)If the registrar either receives an answer to the effect that the company is not carrying on business or in operation, or does not within one month after sending the second letter receive any answer, he may publish in the Gazette, and send to the company by post, a notice that at the expiration of three months from the date of that notice the name of the company mentioned therein will, unless cause is shown to the contrary, be struck off the register and the company will be dissolved.
(4)If, in any case where a company is being wound up, the registrar has reasonable cause to believe either that no liquidator is acting, or that the affairs of the company are fully wound up, and the returns required to be made by the liquidator have not been made for a period of six consecutive months, the registrar shall publish in the Gazette and send to the company or the liquidator, if any, a like notice as is provided in the last foregoing subsection.
(5)At the expiration of the time mentioned in the notice the registrar may, unless cause to the contrary is previously shown by the company, strike its name off the register, and shall publish notice thereof in the Gazette, and on the publication in the Gazette of this notice the company shall be dissolved:
Provided that—
(a)the liability, if any, of every director, managing officer and member of the company shall continue and may be enforced as if the company had not been dissolved; and
(b)nothing in this subsection shall affect the power of the court to wind up a company the name of which has been struck off the register.
(6)If a company or any member or creditor thereof feels aggrieved by the company having been struck off the register, the court on an application made by the company or member or creditor before the expiration of twenty years from the publication in the Gazette of the notice aforesaid may, if satisfied that the company was at the time of the striking off carrying on business or in operation, or otherwise that it is just that the company be restored to the register, order the name of the company to be restored to the register, and upon an office copy of the order being delivered to the registrar for registration the company shall be deemed to have continued in existence as if its name had not been struck off; and the court may by the order give such directions and make such provisions as seem just for placing the company and all other persons in the same position as nearly as may be as if the name of the company had not been struck off.
(7)A notice to be sent under this section to a liquidator may be addressed to the liquidator at his last known place of business, and a letter or notice to be sent under this section to a company may be addressed to the company at its registered office, or, if no office has been registered, to the care of some officer of the company, or, if there is no officer of the company whose name and address are known to the registrar of companies, may be sent to each of the persons who subscribed the memorandum, addressed to him at the address mentioned in the memorandum.
Where a company is dissolved, all property and rights whatsoever vested in or held on trust for the company immediately before its dissolution (including leasehold property but not including property held by the company on trust for any other person) shall, subject and without prejudice to any order which may at any time be made by the court under the two last foregoing sections, be deemed to be bona vacantia and shall accordingly belong to the Crown, or to the Duchy of Lancaster or to the Duke of Cornwall for the time being, as the case may be, and shall vest and may be dealt with in the same manner as other bona vacantia accruing to the Crown, to the Duchy of Lancaster or to the Duke of Cornwall.
(1)Where any property vests in the Crown under the last preceding section, the Crown's title thereto under that section may be disclaimed by a notice signed by the Treasury Solicitor:
(2)Where a notice of disclaimer under this section is executed as respects any property, that property shall be deemed not to have vested in the Crown under the last preceding section, and subsections (2) and (6) of section three hundred and twenty-three of this Act and section three hundred and twenty-four thereof shall apply in relation to the property as if it had been disclaimed under subsection (1) of the said section three hundred and twenty-three immediately before the dissolution of the company.
(3)The right to execute a notice of disclaimer under this section may be waived by or on behalf of the Crown either expressly or by taking possession or other act evincing that intention.
(4)A notice of disclaimer under this section shall be of no effect unless it is executed within twelve months of the date on which the vesting of the property as aforesaid came to the notice of the Treasury Solicitor, or, if an application in writing is made to the Treasury Solicitor by any person interested in the property requiring him to decide whether he will or will not disclaim, within a period of three months after the receipt of the application or such further period as may be allowed by the court which would have had jurisdiction to wind up the company if it had not been dissolved.
(5)A statement in a notice of disclaimer of any property under this section that the vesting of the property came to the notice of the Treasury Solicitor on a specified date or that no such application as aforesaid was received by him with respect to the property before a specified date shall, until the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence of the fact stated.
(6)A notice of disclaimer under this section shall be delivered to the registrar of companies and retained and registered by him, and copies thereof shall be published in the Gazette and sent to any persons who have given the Treasury Solicitor notice that they claim to be interested in the property.
(7)This section shall apply to property vested in the Crown as aforesaid at the commencement of this Act, and where the vesting came to the notice of the Treasury Solicitor more than six months before the commencement of this Act notice of disclaimer under this section may (except where an application is made to him under subsection (4) of this section) be executed at any time within six months thereafter.
(8)This section shall apply to property vested in the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duke of Cornwall under the last preceding section as if for references to the Crown and to the Treasury Solicitor there were respectively substituted references to the Duchy of Lancaster and to the Solicitor to the Duchy of Lancaster or to the Duke of Cornwall and to the Solicitor to the Duchy of Cornwall, as the case may be.
(9)This section shall apply to property in Scotland as if for references to the Treasury Solicitor there were substituted references to the King's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer, and as if section three hundred and twenty-three of this Act applied in the case of a winding up in Scotland, with the substitution, however, for references to property of a leasehold nature, to an under-lessee, and to a mortgagee by demise or a chargee by way of legal mortgage, of references respectively to property held under a lease, to a sub-lessee, and. to the creditor in a security constituted by the assignation of a lease recorded under the [20 & 21 Vict. c. 26.] Registration of Leases (Scotland) Act, 1857.
(1)Section three hundred and twenty-four of this Act shall apply to land in England which by operation of law vests subject to a rentcharge in the Crown or any other person on the dissolution of a company as it applies to land so vesting on a disclaimer under section three hundred and twenty-three of this Act.
(2)In this section the expression “company ” includes any body corporate.
When several companies are in course of liquidation by or under the supervision of the court exercising the stannaries jurisdiction and acting under that jurisdiction, if it appears to the judge that a person who is a contributory of one of the companies is also a creditor claiming a debt against one of the other companies, the judge may (if after inquiry he thinks fit) direct that the debt, when allowed, shall be attached, and payment thereof to the creditor suspended for a time certain as a security for payment of any calls that are or may in course of liquidation become due from him to the company of which he is a contributory; and the amount .thereof shall be applied to such payment in due course:
Provided that such an order of attachment shall not prejudice any claim which the company so indebted to the creditor may have against him by way of set-off, counterclaim or otherwise, or any lawful claim of lien or specific charge on the debt in favour of any third person.
(1)In the application to companies within the stannaries of the provisions of this Act with respect to preferential payments, the following modifications shall be made:—
(a)in the case of a clerk or servant of such a company, the priority with respect to wages and salary given by this Act shall not extend to the principal agent, manager, purser or secretary;
(b)all wages in relation to the mine of a miner, artizan, or labourer employed in or about the mine, including all earnings by a miner arising from any description of piece or other work, or as a tributer or otherwise, but not exceeding an amount equal to four months wages, shall be included amongst the payments which are, under this Act, to be made in priority to other debts;
(c)the following debts, that is to say:—
(i)wages of any miner, artizan or labourer and accrued holiday remuneration becoming payable to or in right of any miner, artizan or labourer as mentioned in paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section three hundred and nineteen of this Act, being wages or remuneration unpaid at the commencement of the winding up;
(ii)all such amounts due in respect of contributions payable in respect of a miner under the enactments mentioned in paragraph (e) of the said subsection (1) as are given priority by that paragraph; and
(iii)all such amounts due in respect of any compensation or liability for compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925, payable to a miner or the dependants of a miner as are given priority by paragraph (f) of the said subsection (1);
shall be paid by the liquidator forthwith in priority to all costs, except (in the case of a winding up by the court) such costs of and incidental to the making of the winding up order as in the opinion of the court have been properly incurred, and to all claims by mortgagees, execution creditors, or any other persons, except the claims of clerks and servants in respect of their wages or salary or accrued holiday remuneration due to them;
(d)subject as aforesaid, the court may, by order, charge the whole or any part of the assets of the company, in priority to all claims and to all existing mortgages or charges thereon, with the payment of a sum sufficient to discharge the debts to be paid in priority under the last foregoing paragraph, together with interest thereon at a rate not exceeding five per cent. per annum, and this charge may be made in favour of any person who is willing to advance the requisite amount or any part thereof, and as soon as the said sum has been so advanced, the said debts shall be paid without delay so far as the amount advanced extends, and in such order of payment as the court directs;
(e)the provision giving a right of priority to a person who has advanced money for the making of payments on account of wages, salary or accrued holiday remuneration shall have effect subject to the modifications contained in this section.
(2)References in the foregoing subsection to wages shall be construed as including references to such remuneration in respect of a period of holiday or absence from work as is deemed for the purposes of section three hundred and nineteen of this Act to be wages, and for the purposes of that subsection the expression “accrued holiday remuneration ” has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of that section.
(3)The foregoing provisions of this section shall not apply in the case of such a winding up as is mentioned in subsection (9) of the said section three hundred and nineteen, and in such a case the provisions which, by virtue of that subsection, are deemed to remain in force shall have effect in their application to companies within the stannaries subject to the modifications subject to which they would have had effect if this Act had not passed.
(1)On the winding up of a company within the stannaries, contributions of the miners, artizans or labourers for the purpose of a mine club, or accident, or sick, or benefit fund shall not be deemed to be, or be applied as part of the assets of the company in liquidation of the debts of the company or otherwise, but shall be accounted for by the purser or any other person in possession of the fund to the liquidator, and shall be recoverable by him, and be applied in accordance with the rules of the club.
(2)Where the winding up is a voluntary winding up, any person claiming to be entitled to any such contributions or fund shall have the same right as the liquidator of applying to the court for directions, or to determine any question arising in the matter.
(1)An account, to be called the Companies Liquidation Account, shall be kept by the Board of Trade with the Bank of England, and all moneys received by the Board in respect of proceedings under this Act in connexion with the winding up of companies in England shall be paid to that account.
(2)All payments out of money standing to the credit of the Board of Trade in the Companies Liquidation Account shall be made by the Bank of England in the prescribed manner.
(1)Whenever the cash balance standing to the credit of the Companies Liquidation Account is in excess of the amount which in the opinion of the Board of Trade is required for the time being to answer demands in respect of companies' estates, the Board shall notify the excess to the Treasury and shall pay over the whole or any part of that excess, as the Treasury may require, to the Treasury, to such account as the Treasury may direct, and the Treasury may invest the sums paid over, or any part thereof, in Government securities to be placed to the credit of the said account.
(2)When any part of the money so invested is, in the opinion of the Board of Trade, required to answer any demands in respect of companies' estates, the Board shall notify to the Treasury the amount so required, and the Treasury shall thereupon repay to the Board such sum as may be required to the credit of the Companies Liquidation Account, and for that purpose may direct the sale of such part of the said securities as may be necessary.
(3)The dividends, on investments under this section shall be paid into the Bankruptcy and Companies Winding-up (Fees) Account established under the Economy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1926.
(1)An account shall be kept by the Board of Trade of the receipts and payments in the winding up of each company in England, and, when the cash balance standing to the credit of the account of any company is in excess of the amount which, in the opinion of the committee of inspection, is required for the time being to answer demands in respect of that company's estate, the Board shall on the request of the committee, invest the amount not so required in Government securities, to be placed to the credit of the said account for the benefit of the company.
(2)When any part of the money so invested is, in the opinion of the committee of inspection, required to answer any demands in respect of the estate of the company, the Board of Trade shall, on the request of the committee, raise such sum as may be required by the sale of such part of the said securities as may be necessary.
(3)The dividends on investments under this section shall be paid to the credit of the company.
(4)When the balance at the credit of any company's account in the hands of the Board of Trade exceeds two thousand pounds, and the liquidator gives notice to the Board that the excess is not required for the purposes of the liquidation, the company shall be entitled to interest on the excess at the rate of two per cent. per annum or such other rate as may for the time being be prescribed by order of the Treasury.
(5)The power conferred by this section on the Treasury shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(1)The Board of Trade may, with the approval of the Treasury, appoint such additional officers as may be required by the Board for the execution as respects England of this Part of this Act, and may remove any person so appointed.
(2)The Board of Trade, with the concurrence of the Treasury, shall direct whether any and what remuneration is to be allowed to any officer of, or person attached to, the Board performing any duties under this Part of this Act in relation to the winding up of companies in England, and may vary, increase or diminish that remuneration as they think fit.
The officers of the courts acting in the winding up of companies in England shall make to the Board of Trade such returns of the business of their respective courts and offices, at such times, and in such manner and form, as may be prescribed, and from those returns the Board shall cause books to be prepared which shall, under the regulations of the Board, be open for public information and searches.
(1)The Lord Chancellor may, with the concurrence of the President of the Board of Trade, make general rules for carrying into effect the objects of this Act so far as relates to the winding up of companies in England, and the Court of Session may by Act of Sederunt make general rules for carrying into effect the objects of this Act so far as relates to the winding up of companies in Scotland.
(2)All rules made under this section shall be judicially noticed and shall have effect as if enacted by this Act.
(3)There shall be paid in respect of proceedings under this Act in relation to the winding up of companies in England such fees as the Lord Chancellor may, with the sanction of the Treasury, direct, and the Treasury may direct by whom and in -what manner the same are to be collected and accounted for:
Provided that in fixing the fees aforesaid regard shall be had to the provisions of section fourteen of the Economy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1926.
(4)All rules made and directions given by the Lord Chancellor under this section shall be adopted by the authority for the time being empowered to make rules for regulating the practice or procedure in the Chancery Court of the County Palatine of Lancaster, but as so adopted shall have effect with the substitution of the words “vice-chancellor ” for the word “judge,” and of the word “registrar ” for the word “master,” and of the words “chambers of the registrar ” for the words “chambers of the judge ” and " judge's chambers '', and any directions as to the remuneration to be allowed to officers of that court in respect of proceedings under this Act shall be subject to the sanction of the Chancellor of the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster.
(5)The powers conferred by this section on the Lord Chancellor, the Court of Session and the Treasury shall be exercisable by statutory instrument, and—
(a)a statutory instrument containing general rules shall be laid before Parliament after being made;
(b)the [9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 36.] Statutory Instruments Act, 1946, shall apply to a statutory instrument containing general rules made by the Court of Session in like manner as if the rules had been made by a Minister of the Crown.