RECEIVER. A receiver is a person appointed by the Court of Chancery to receive the rents and profits of land, or the produce of other property, ;which is in dispute in a cause in that court. He is an officer or agent of the, court, and as such under its general control A receiver is never appointed unless a suit is pending concerning the property in question ; and he is usually appointed upon motion in court, after notice has been given to the proper parties. The motion is generally made after answer ; under special circumstances it may be made before answer, but the motion must be supported by sufficient affidavits. The cases in which a receiver is appointed are those in which there is great danger of property being wasted or lost, owing to the want of a proper person to look after it. The following are some instances in which a receiver will be appointed : when an infant is entitled to real estate, especially if it be of considerable magnitude : in suits between partners in trade for the purpose of winding up the concern, when a partner is grossly misconducting himself, disposing of the partnership property, or excluding his copartners from the manage ment of the partnership afairs : when there is danger of the assets of a testator being lost or wasted through the misconduct of an executor.
A manager of West India estates has power to set and let them, and to expend money in repairs; but a receiver has not such power, except as hereafter mentioned.
Certain persons are disqualified from being receivers, such as a solicitor in the cause, the next friend of the infant plaintiff, a peer of the realm, and a receiver-general of a county. The receiver must give security, according to the value of the property of which he is appointed receiver.
It is the duty of the receiver, when his appointment is completed, to inform the tenants of the estate in question of his appointment, that they may pay the rents to him.
A receiver is paid by a per tentage on the sum which he receives, usually a shilling in the pound; and sometimes, in the case of large estates, by a fixed salary. He must annually pass his accounts of receipts and payments. It is usually directed in the order or decree for the appointment of a receiver, that the receiver shall from time to time pay the balances which shall be due from him into the Bank, with the privity of the Accountant-General, to the credit of the cause. A receiver who does not pass his accounts and pay in the balances may be deprived of his salary. (15 Ve. 273.) If he make default in payment of his balances, the recognizances may be put in suit. A receiver of rents and profits has to pass yearly or half-yearly accounts, as the rents and profits are received, and he is chargeable with interest at 5 per cent. on balances in his hands which he neglects to pay at the times fixed for that purpose.
When the receiver has passed his final account, and paid the balance into the Bank, or to the person entitled to receive the money, to whom the order directs him to pay it, he may apply by petition to the court for the vacating of the recognizances and his own discharge, and an order will be made accordingly, upon all the facts being proved to the court, which are the foundation of the receiver's right to his dis charge. A receiver is not liable to make good unavoidable losses.