VPRS 758 General Index to Melbourne Insolvencies

Prior to 1871 the Supreme Court of New South Wales for the Port Phillip District (VA 914, 1842-1852) and the Supreme Court of Victoria (VA 2549, 1852-1871) were responsible for the administration of insolvents' estates in their insolvency jurisdiction.The Insolvency Act 1871 established the Court of Insolvency. The Act empowered the Governor-in-Council to establish Insolvency Districts for Victoria and appoint places and times for the Court to sit in each district. All judges of County Courts in Victoria except the judge of the Melbourne County Court were appointed judges of the Court of Insolvency.Between 1871 and 1928 (when responsibility for insolvency passed to the Commonwealth) the Law Department instructed Clerks of Courts of Insolvency to keep several types of records including an Insolvency Court Register and a Register of Insolvencies.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. When an Order for Sequestration was made by the Court, the clerk would make an entry in the Register of Insolvency detailing the insolvent's assets and debts.An Order of Sequestration was the order made by the Court 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/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.This series, the general index, was created to provide a means of retrieval of insolvency records relating to persons who had sequestrated their estates under the insolvency acts in force prior to the Insolvency Statute 1871 and subsequently under the insolvency acts of 1871, 1890 and 1915.The information recorded in the index includes:- year/ and the case number (for persons declared insolvent during the period 1842-1871)- the last two digits of the year of the Act and the case number i.e. 71/1; 90/1; 15/1 (for persons declared insolvents during the period 1871-1928)- name of the insolvent- residence- occupation.Indexes of Insolvencies appear to have been kept since 1842. Three volumes of original indexes arranged lexicographically/alphabetically for the period 1842-1883 were in use at the Court of Insolvency at Melbourne. The original indexes were not extant at the time of this transfer and were noted as being in an extremely fragile and illegible state in 1884. Due to their deteriorating condition a new index was compiled in 1884 (by A.J. McDonnell). Entries from the three original indexes covering the period 1842-1883 were copied into two volumes. The one extant volume (M to Z) is located in VPRS 758/P1. Two subsequent extant volumes of indexes (for the period 1884-1925) form a part of the original transfer (VPRS 758/P0).Entries in each index book are arranged alphabetically by surname of the insolvent within the following time periods:1842-18831884-19001901-19251925-1928 (not extant).This series ended in 1928 with the transfer of the administration of the insolvency function to the Commonwealth Government.