Opinion
January 23, 1880.
Under Public Laws R.I. cap. 723, § 2, of June 20, 1878, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to appoint a receiver of the estate of an insolvent debtor, only if the debtor resides in the State when the petition for a receiver is filed.
PETITION IN EQUITY for the appointment of a receiver.
Public Laws R.I. cap. 723, § 2, of June 20, 1878, provides: "Whenever any debtor, being insolvent, shall do any act or make any conveyance whereby any one of his creditors shall obtain a preference over any other of his creditors, or knowingly omit to do any act which he might lawfully do to prevent one of his creditors from obtaining a preference over his other creditors, contrary to the intent of this act, any three or more of his creditors holding not less than one third of the debts in amount of such debtor, may file a petition in equity, either in term time or in vacation, in the Supreme Court in the county where such debtor resides, but which may be heard in any county, and after notice to the debtor and to the creditors sought to be preferred, of the time and place of hearing thereon, the court, sitting in banc, shall proceed summarily to hear the parties, and if it shall appear to the court that such debtor is insolvent, and has been giving, or is about to give, a preference to any of his creditors over others of such creditors, the court shall appoint, from the nominations by the creditors, a receiver who shall take possession of all the property, evidences of property, books, papers, debts, choses in action, and estate of every kind of the debtor not exempted by law from attachment, including property attached or levied upon, in the manner and subject to the limitation hereinbefore provided, and all property conveyed in violation of the provisions of this act, and convert the same to money, and marshal and distribute the same among the several creditors of the insolvent, whether their claims are due or to become due, who shall come in and prove their respective claims within such time and in such manner as the court shall direct, and the court shall order such debtor to file a schedule of his debts and to whom due, and of his property, and to do whatever may be necessary and proper to carry this act into effect, and all proceedings therein or thereunder shall be in accordance with the course of equity and such as the court shall by general rule or by special order prescribe."
To a petition filed by Thomas Phillips Co., under the foregoing statute, asking that a receiver might be appointed of the estate of William H. Newton, the respondents replied:
1. That the petition was not brought by at least three creditors.
2. That the petitioners did not hold one third of Newton's debts.
3. That Newton was, when the petition was filed, a resident of the state of Iowa.
Charles Hart Lorin M. Cook, for petitioners.
Abraham Payne, Samuel R. Honey John F. Lonsdale, for respondents.
This is an application under Pub. Laws, cap. 723, of June 20, 1878, for the appointment of a receiver of the property and effects of William H. Newton, as an insolvent debtor, for the benefit of his creditors. The court is of opinion that it has jurisdiction to appoint a receiver under Pub. Laws, cap. 723, only when the insolvent debtor who is proceeded against is resident in the State at the time the application is preferred. It has no jurisdiction under the chapter referred to, over the property and effects of a non-resident debtor. Claflin v. Beach, 4 Met. 392. The court is also of the opinion, on the testimony submitted, that Newton had left this State and become a resident of the State of Iowa before the present application was preferred. The application is therefore dismissed.
Petition dismissed.