Musleh (Insolvency Jurisdiction) (Cause No. 23 of 1927) [1927] EACA 12 (1 January 1927)

## INSOLVENCY JURISDICTION.

## Before SHERIDAN, J.

## In the matter of OBED MUSLEH. - Cause No. 23/1927.

## Service of Petition on person of unsound mind.

**Held:**—That service be effected by serving one copy of the Petition<br>upon a relative, at the last known residence or place of business<br>of the debtor, and another copy upon the Medical Officer in charge of the debtor.

RULING.—At the present time Obed bin Musleh though said to be detained in a Mental Hospital cannot from the point of view of this Court be said to be a lunatic, he is an alleged lunatic but he has not been adjudged a lunatic under the only procedure in force in this country, namely, the Lunacy District Courts Act, 1858. In a similar case in England service on such a person as Obed would be effected under O. 9 R. 5 of the English Rules by directing service on the person with whom he resided or in whose care he was. The affidavit shows that Obed is at present residing at Mathari Mental Hospital under the care of Dr. McFiggans. R. 115 of the local Bankruptcy Rules is perhaps sufficiently wide to provide for the service on a person of unsound mind such as Obed at his last-known residence or place of business—the petition being served on an adult inmate of that place, but having regard to the fact that Obed is known to be at the Mathari Mental Hospital I consider the proper course to adopt is to serve one copy of the petition on Obed bin Musleh's nephew Ali bin Ahmed, at the last-known residence or place of business of Obed. and another on Dr. McFiggans at the Mathari Mental Hospital. A point has been raised by Mr. Daly for the information of the Court that the question as to whether a lunatic can be adjudicated bankrupt is still unsettled. This is so but it has reference only to a lunatic who has been adjudicated to be such by the Court sitting in Lunacy. In the present case as a Judge sitting in Bankruptcy I am not restricted by anything done by a Judge sitting in Lunaey, for although an application was made on the Lunacy side of the Court it did not result in an adjudication or in any order affecting the property of Obed bin Musleh.

Costs of application to come out of the estate.