LLOYD LOWNDES, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

297

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect
from the date of its passage.

Approved April 2, 1896.

CHAPTER 184.

AN ACT to repeal Sections fourteen and fifteen of Article
forty-seven of the Code of Public General Laws, title
"Insolvents," and to re-enact the same with an amendment.

Effective.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That sections fourteen and fifteen of the Code of Pub-
lic General Laws, Article forty-seven, title "Insolvents," be and
the same are hereby repealed and re-enacted, so as to read as
follows :

Repeal.

14, No deed or conveyance executed or lien created by any
banker, stockbroker, merchant, manufacturer or trader being
insolvent, or in contemplation of insolvency, shall be lawful
or valid if the same shall contain any preferences, save such
as result from operation of law, and save those for the wages
or salaries to clerks, servants, salesmen and employees con-
tracted not more than three months anterior to the execution
thereof; and all preferences, with the exceptions aforesaid,
shall be void, howsoever the same may be made, provided the
grantor or party creating said lien or preferences shall be pro-
ceeded against under section 23, or shall apply for the benefit
of this article under section 1, within four months after the
recording of the deed or conveyance or the creation of said
lien or preference, and shall be declared or shall become, under
the provisions of this article, an insolvent.

15. Whenever any person or body corporate shall make an

Unlawful
preferences
in deeds.

assignment for the benefit of his, her or its creditors, or shall
be adjudicated insolvent upon his, her or its petition, or upon
the petition of any creditor or creditors, or shall have his, her
or its property or estate taken possession of by a receiver under
a decree of a court of equity, in the distribution of the prop-
erty or estate of such person or body corporate, all money due
and owing from such person or body corporate for wages or
salaries to clerks, servants, salesmen or employees contracted
not more than three months anterior to the execution of such
assignment, adjudication of insolvency or appointment of re-
ceiver, shall first be paid in full out of such property or estate,

Wages due by
Insolvents.