BANKRUPT. [ be signed at this meeting, at which the trader must be present. The syndics op pose or favour the concordat as the case may be. The concordat requires the consent of a majority of the creditors who also represent three-fourths of the whole debts that are proved. There can be no concordat in the case of fraudulent bankruptcy. The concordat is incom plete until it has received the sanction of the Tribunal of Commerce, acting upon the report of the juge-commis saire. This completion of the process is called the " homologation ;" and, after giving a statement to the trader, showing the result of their labours, in presence of the juge-commissaire, the functions of the syndics cease. The trader may be prose cuted for fraudulent bankruptcy after the bomologation.
The term " Banqueroute " is applied in the French code to insolvency which is clearly traceable to imprudence or extravagance, and the bankrupt is liable to prosecution. The Code de Com merce declares that any trader against whom the following circumstances are proved is guilty of Simple bankruptcy : —If his personal or household expenses have been excessive ; if large sums have been lost in gambling, stock-jobbing, or mercantile speculations ; if, in order to avoid bankruptcy, goods have been pur chased with a view of selling them below the market price ; or if money has been borrowed at excessive interest ; or if, after being insolvent, some of the creditors have been favoured at the expense of the rest. In the following cases also the trader
is declared a Simple bankrupt :-1. If he has contracted, without value received, greater obligations on account of another person than his means or prospects ren dered prudent. 2. A bankruptcy for a second time, without having satisfied the obligations of a preceding concordat. 3. If the trader has failed to make a volun tary declaration of insolvency within three days of the cessation of his pay ments, or if the declaration of insolvency contained fraudulent statements. 4. if he failed to appear at the meeting of the syndics. 5. If he has kept bad books, although without fraudulent intent.
It is fraudulent bankruptcy when an insolvent has secreted his books, con• cealed his property, made over or mis represented the amount of his capital, or made himself debtor for sums which he did not owe. A fraudulent bankrupt who flees to England may be surrendered un der the Coxvuzrrion TREATY.
It has been decided by the French tri bunals that a certificate obtained in Eng land by an English trader who flees to France does not free him from the de mands of a French creditor who has not been a party to it.