(DOWNLOAD) "In Re Mcgrew" by United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: In Re Mcgrew
- Author : United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- Release Date : January 23, 1942
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 54 KB
Description
The farmer in almost every nation has been excluded from the class against whom involuntary bankruptcy proceedings may be brought. This general cloak of protection, however, does not wholly explain the reasons for the special advantages afforded the farmer-debtor by the Frazier-Lemke Act. It is true that the economic condition of the farmer had grown steadily worse. However, one cannot overlook the historical fact that the American farmer has always been zealous in his own interests. At any rate state laws were enacted to extend the period of mortgage redemption, to prohibit deficiency judgments and to declare a complete moratorium on the payment of mortgage indebtedness. The Federal Government in 1933 passed three measures designed to improve the farmers financial situation. The Agricultural Adjustment Act sought to restore purchasing power by raising the level of farm prices; the Farming Mortgage Act was enacted to improve farm credit through the refinance of mortgage indebtedness; and Section 75 of the Bankruptcy Act was intended to provide relief via composition and extension agreements to distressed farmer-debtors whose affairs did not warrant or require liquidation. These measures however proved inadequate for the task of rescuing the farmer from his financial plight. The cumbersome machinery of Section 75 was rarely resorted to because of two outstanding defects in its procedure. Since the mortgage debt of most farmers represented a majority of their indebtedness, the requirement that a composition or extension be agreed to by a majority in number and amount of all creditors often tended to grant to a single mortgage a veto power over composition and extension proposals. A mere composition or extension without any reduction in the amount of the lien was not a sufficiently effective remedy, particularly in view of the fact that in the absence of consent by at least a majority of the secured creditors, there was nothing to prevent foreclosure and dispossession of the farmer.