VPRS 2403 Insolvency Court Register

Full description

The role of the Insolvency Court was to
hear and determine Orders of Sequestration
monitor the implementation of Orders of Sequestration
grant Certificates of Discharge certifying that the insolvent had fulfilled the obligations of the Order.

An Order of Sequestration was the order made by the Court of Insolvency temporarily giving control of an insolvent person's property to one or more other people. These people were called assignees or trustees and were usually a court official. They were responsible for determining how an insolvent person's property and assets should be distributed between his or her creditors. Sequestration could be voluntary, that is, a person could come before the Court and declare themselves insolvent or it could be compulsory, that is, one or more of a person's creditors could petition the Court for an Order.

Between 1871 and 1928 (when responsibility for insolvency passed to the Commonwealth), the Law Department instructed Clerks of Courts of Insolvency to keep an Insolvency Court Register. Insolvency Court Registers were used to record the court's decision with regard to an application for an Order of Sequestration and related court orders.

For each application for an Order of Sequestration the following details could be recorded in the Court Register: the name, address and occupation of the insolvent or debtor and the name of his or her Attorney; the date of filing of the application; the name and date of appointment of the assignee or trustee; details of any further court sittings, including the granting of a Certificate of Discharge; details of notices and returns which were required to be sent to the Chief Clerk of the Court of Insolvency in Melbourne and the Registrar-General and details of the publication of notice of the Order of Sequestration in the Government Gazette.