equipments of any one who is or has been a soldier in the militia or army; and any other property that is or may be exempt from levy and sale by the laws of the United States or by those of the state in force in 1867. With the exception of the exempt property, the assignment under the act carries to the assignee all the estate of the bankrupt, and dissolves all attachments of any of the property made on mesne process within four months previous to the commencement of the proceedings. A discharge is granted to the bankrupt as a matter of course unless he has been guilty of some act forbidden by the statute, or of some fraud upon creditors, or lost property by gaming, or suffered voluntary loss or destruction to his estate; but in cases commenced a year after the act went into operation, no discharge is granted unless the assets pay 50 per cent. of the debts, or a majority in number and value of the creditors assent; and in cases of second bankruptcy no discharge is granted unless the assets pay 70 per cent., or unless three fourths in value of the creditors assent, or unless the debts owing at the time of the previous bankruptcy have been paid or released. For the following acts the bankrupt is punishable, criminally: Secreting or concealing property belonging to his estate; concealing, destroying, altering, &c., books, papers, &c., with fraudulent intent; making gifts, payments, &c., with the like intent; spending any part of his estate in gaming; fraudulent omission of property from the schedule; failing to disclose knowledge of fraudulent claims against the estate; attempting to account for any of his property by fictitious losses or expenses; obtaining fraudulent credit within three months before commencement of the proceedings, and with intent to defraud creditors; making disposition of property bought on credit and not paid for, otherwise than by bona fide transactions in the ordinary way of his trade, within three months before the commencement of proceedings. The maximum punishment that may be inflicted is three months' imprisonment with or without hard labor.—In Scotland and Ireland the bankruptcy laws are in their effect substantially the same as in England. In France, the tribunal of commerce proceeds summarily to sequester the estate of a bankrupt merchant, and apply the same in payment of his debts. From the day of failure the bankrupt is divested of all title to or control over his property; his counting-house is closed, and his effects put under seal; a member of the court is appointed a commissioner to take charge of the effects, with the aid of certain agents, who have surveillance of the same until the creditors are convened for the nomination of syndics (trustees); and the debtor himself in the mean time may be imprisoned or compelled to give security to undergo examination in respect to his property. The family of the bankrupt are entitled to retain their apparel and household furniture; the wife also retains any interest belonging to her by a marriage stipulation, or which she has herself acquired by the use of her own separate estate. The proceeds of the bankrupt's estate are distributed by the syndics to the creditors; the bankrupt is subject to imprisonment, or to be condemned to forced labor, in case of fraudulent bankruptcy or of insolvency clearly traceable to imprudence or extravagance.—There are similar proceedings in all the commercial countries of Europe, some more and some less severe, but all of them being founded upon the presumption of fraud having been committed by the bankrupt, from which he is to purge himself upon a strict investigation of his affairs. In Holland he is discharged from all further liability for his debts upon getting a certificate from one half of his creditors, to whom is due five eighths of his debts.
BANKS, a N. E. county of Georgia, watered by Broad river and its affluents; area, 250 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 4,973, of whom 921 were colored. The chief productions in 1870 were 11,314 bushels of wheat, 114,167 of Indian corn, 11,069 of oats, 12,263 of sweet potatoes, and 398 bales of cotton. Capital, Homer.
BANKS, John, an English dramatist of the 17th and 18th centuries; the dates of his birth and death are unknown. He was a London attorney, and left his profession to write for the stage. He published seven tragedies between 1677 and 1696. Of these, “The Unhappy Favorite,” founded on the fate of the earl of Essex (beheaded in the reign of Elizabeth), was a stock play for a long time, and was freely used by later playwrights. His dramas were popular, but their literary merit is small.
BANKS, Sir Joseph, an English naturalist and traveller, born in London, Jan. 4, 1743, died June 19, 1820. At Eton school he first showed a taste for botany, which he cultivated afterward with enthusiasm at Oxford. In 1764, at the age of 21, he came into his paternal property, which was considerable. Two years later he became fellow of the royal society, after which he made a voyage to Newfoundland and Labrador, with Lieut. Phipps of the royal navy, to collect plants. On his return he formed an intimacy with Dr. Solander, a Swede, the pupil of Linnæus. The four years following Mr. Banks devoted to the study of botany and natural history, and through the interest of the earl of Sandwich, who was then first lord of the admiralty, was appointed with Dr. Solander naturalist to the expedition under the command of Capt. Cook, which sailed from England in August, 1768, to visit Tahiti for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus. In this voyage, which lasted three years, he visited Tierra del Fuego, Tahiti, New Zealand, and New South Wales. In 1772 he made a voyage to Iceland with Dr. Solander, visiting the Hebrides on his return, and discovering the columnar formation of the rocks surrounding the caves of Staffa. On the retirement of Sir John Pringle from the presidency of the royal society in 1777, Mr. Banks was chosen
