4. No action shall be brought or other proceedings commenced by a company the books and documents of which are liable to inspection under subsection (2) of section 2 of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1914, unless notice in writing has previously been given by the company to the Custodian of their intention.

5. This Act may be cited as the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1915, and shall be construed as one with the principal Act; and the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1914, the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, and this Act shall be cited together as the Trading with the Enemy Acts, 1914 and 1915.

TRADING WITH THE ENEMY AMENDMENT ACT, 1916

5 & 6 Geo. 5, c. 105

AN ACT TO AMEND THE TRADING WITH THE ENEMY ACTS. (JANUARY 27, 1916)

1. (1) Where it appears to the Board of Trade that the business carried on in the United Kingdom by any person, firm, or company is, by reason of the enemy nationality or enemy association of that person, firm, or company, or of the members of that firm or company or any of them, or otherwise, carried on wholly or mainly for the benefit of or under the control of enemy subjects, the Board of Trade shall, unless for any special reason it appears to them inexpedient to do so, make an order either

(a) Prohibiting the person, firm, or company from carrying on the business, except for the purposes and subject to the conditions, if any, specified in the order; or

(b) Requiring the business to be wound up.

The Board of Trade may at any time revoke or vary any such order, and may, in any case where they have made an order prohibiting or limiting the carrying on of the business, at any time, if they think it expedient, substitute for that order an order requiring the business to be wound up.

(2) Where the Board of Trade make any such order they may at the same time or at any time subsequently appoint a controller to control and supervise the carrying out of the order and, if the case requires to conduct the winding-up of the business, and in any case where it appears expedient to the Board of Trade, the Board may, as occasion requires, confer on the controller such powers as are exercisable by a

liquidator in a voluntary winding-up of a company (including power in the name of the person, firm, or company, or in his own name, and by deed or otherwise, to convey or transfer any property, and power to apply to the High Court or a judge thereof to determine any question arising in the carrying out of the order), or those powers subject to such modifications, restrictions, or extensions as the Board think necessary or convenient for the purpose of giving full effect to the order, and the remuneration of and costs, charges, and expenses incurred by the controller, and any remuneration payable and costs, charges, and expenses incurred in connection with the supervision or inspection of the business, whether before or after the passing of this Act, to such amount as may be approved by the Board, shall be defrayed out of the assets of the business, and shall be charged on such assets in priority to any other charges thereon.

In England and Wales an official receiver may, if the Board of Trade think fit, be appointed controller.

(3) The distribution of any sums or other property resulting from the realization of any assets of the business, whether those assets are realized as the result of an order requiring the business to be wound up or as the result of an order prohibiting or limiting the carrying on of the business, shall be subject to the same rules as to preferential payments as are applicable to the distribution of the assets of a company which is being wound up, and these assets shall, so far as they are available for discharging unsecured debts, be applied in discharging such debts due to creditors who are not enemies in priority to the unsecured debts due to creditors who are enemies; and any balance, after providing for the discharge of liabilities, shall be distributed amongst the persons interested therein in such manner as the Board of Trade may direct:

Provided, That any sums or other property which had a state of war not existed would have been payable or transferable under this section to enemies, whether as creditors or otherwise, shall be paid or transferred to the Custodian under the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, to be dealt with by him in like manner as money paid to him under that Act.

(4) Where there are assets of the business in enemy territory, the controller shall cause an estimate to be prepared of the value of those assets and also of the liabilities of the business to creditors, whether secured or unsecured, in enemy territory, and of the claims of persons in enemy territory to participate in the distribution of any balance available for distribution, and such liabilities and claims shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to have been satisfied out of such assets so far as they

are capable of bearing them, and the balance (if any) of such liabilities and claims shall alone rank for payment out of the other assets of the business. A certificate by the controller as to the amount of such assets, liabilities, claims, and balance shall be conclusive for the purpose of determining the sums available for discharging the other liabilities and for distribution amongst other persons claiming to be interested in the business:

Provided, That nothing in this provision shall affect the rights of creditors of and other persons interested in the business against the assets of the business in enemy territory.

(5) The Board of Trade may, on application for the purpose being made by a controller appointed under this section, after considering the application and any objection which may be made by any person who appears to them to be interested, grant him a release, and an order of the Board releasing the controller shall discharge him from all liability in respect of any act done or default made by him in the exercise and performance of his powers and duties as controller, but any such order may be revoked on proof that it was obtained by fraud or by suppression or concealment of any material fact.

(6) If any person contravenes the provisions of any order made under this section he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable and triable in like manner as the offense of trading with the enemy, and section 1 of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1914, shall apply accordingly.

(7) Where an order under this section has been made as respects the business carried on by any person, firm, or company, no bankruptcy, petition, or petition for sequestration or summary sequestration against such person or firm or petition for the winding-up of such company shall be presented, or resolution for the winding-up of such company passed, or steps for the enforcement of the rights of any creditors of the person, firm, or company taken without the consent of the Board of Trade, but the Board of Trade may present a petition for the winding-up of the company by the court, and the making of an order under this section shall be a ground on which the company may be wound up by the court.

(8) The Board of Trade shall from time to time prepare and lay before Parliament lists of the persons, firms, and companies as to whom orders have been made under this section, together with short particulars of such orders, and notice of the making of an order under this section prohibiting or limiting the carrying on of any business, or requiring any business to be wound up, shall be published in the London, Edinburgh, or Dublin Gazette, as the case may require.

(9) Where a person, being a subject of His Majesty or of any State allied to His Majesty, is detained in enemy territory against his will,

that person, for the purposes of this section, shall not be treated as an enemy or as being in enemy territory.

(10) An order made under this section shall continue in force, notwithstanding the termination of the present war, until determined by order of the Board of Trade.

2. Where it appears to the Board of Trade that a contract entered into before or during the war with an enemy or enemy subject, or with a person, firm, or company in respect of whose business an order shall have been made under section 1 of this Act, is injurious to the public interest, the Board of Trade may by order cancel or determine such contract either unconditionally or upon such conditions as the Board may think fit, and thereupon such contract shall be deemed to be canceled or determined accordingly.

3. The power of the Board of Trade to appoint inspectors and supervisors under the Trading with the Enemy Acts, 1914 and 1915, shall include a power to appoint an inspector or supervisor of the business carried on by any person, firm, or company in the United Kingdom for the purpose of ascertaining whether the business is carried on for the benefit of or under the control of enemy subjects, or for the purpose of ascertaining the relations existing, or which, before the war existed, between such person, firm, or company, or of any members of that firm or company and any such subject; and the Board of Trade may require any inspector, supervisor, or controller appointed under the said Acts or this Act to furnish them with reports on any matters connected with the business.

4. (1) The Board of Trade, in any case where it appears to them to be expedient to do so, may by order vest in the Custodian under the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, any property, real or personal (including any rights, whether legal or equitable, in or arising out of property, rcal or personal), belonging to or held or managed for or on behalf of an enemy or enemy subject, or the right to transfer that property, and may by any such order, or any subsequent order, confer on the Custodian such powers of selling, managing, and otherwise dealing with the property as to the Board may seem proper.

(2) A vesting order under this section as respects property of any description shall be of the like purport and effect as a vesting order as respects property of the same description made by the High Court under the Trustee Act, 1893, and shall be sufficient to vest in the Custodian any property, or the right to transfer any properly as provided by the order, without the necessity of any further conveyance, assurance, or document. (3) Where in exercise of the powers conferred on him by the Board of

Trade or by the court under this Act or by virtue of the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, the Custodian proposes to sell any shares or stock forming part of the capital of any company or any securities issued by the company in respect of which a vesting order under either of the said enactments has been made, the company may, with the consent of the Board of Trade, purchase the shares, stock, or securities, any law or any regulation of the company to the contrary notwithstanding, and any shares, stock, or securities so purchased may from time to time be reissued by the company.

(4) The transfer on sale by the Custodian of any property shall be conclusive evidence in favor of the purchaser and of the Custodian that the requirements of this section have been complied with.

(5) All property vested in the Custodian under this section, and the proceeds of the sale of, or money arising from, any such property shall be dealt with by him in like manner as money paid to and property vested in him under the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, and section 5 of that Act as amended by this Act shall apply accordingly.

5. It shall be the duty of every enemy subject who is within the United Kingdom, if so required by the Custodian, within one month after being so required, to furnish the Custodian with such particulars as to

(a) Any stocks, shares, debentures, or other securities issued by any company, government, municipal, or other authority held by him or in which he is interested; and

(b) Any other property of the value of £50 or upward belonging to him or in which he is interested

as the Custodian may require, and if he fails to do so he shall, on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, be liable to a fine not exceeding £100, or to imprisonment with or without hard labor for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such a fine and imprisonment, and, in addition, to a further fine not exceeding £50 for every day during which the default continues.

6. If the benefit of an application made by or on behalf or for the benefit of an enemy or enemy subject for any patent is, by an order under the Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914, or this Act, vested in the Custodian, the patent may be granted to the Custodian as patentee and may, notwithstanding anything in section 12 of the Patents and Designs Act, 1907, be sealed accordingly by the Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs, and Trade-Marks, and any patent so granted to the Custodian shall be deemed to be property vested in him by such order as aforesaid.

7. Any restrictions imposed by any act or proclamation on dealings