Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985

73 Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

• " Accountant in Bankruptcy " shall be construed in accordance with section 1 of this Act;

• " accounting period" shall be construed in accordance with section 52(1) and (b) of this Act;

• " apparent insolvency " and " apparently insolvent" shall be construed in accordance with section 7 of this Act;

• " appropriate bank or institution " means a bank or institution mentioned in section 2(1) of the [1979 c. 37.] Banking Act 1979 or for the time being specified in Schedule 1 to that Act;

• " act and warrant" means an act and warrant issued under section 25(2) of, or paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 2 to, this Act;

• " associate " shall be construed in accordance with section 74 of this Act;

• " business " means the carrying on of any activity, whether for profit or not;

• "commissioner", except in the expression "examining commissioner ", shall be construed in accordance with section 30(1) of this Act;

• " court" means Court of Session or sheriff;

• " date of sequestration " has the meaning assigned by section 12(4) of this Act;

• " debtor " includes, without prejudice to the expression's generality, an entity whose estate may be sequestrated by virtue of section 6 of this Act, a deceased debtor or his executor or a person entitled to be appointed as executor to a deceased debtor;

• " examination " means a public examination under section 45 of this Act or a private examination under section 44 of this Act;

• " examining commissioner" shall be construed in accordance with section 46(2) of this Act;

• " interim trustee " shall be construed in accordance with section 2 of this Act;

• " list of interim trustees " has the meaning assigned by section 1(1)(b) of this Act;

• " ordinary debt" shall be construed in accordance with section 51(1)(f) of this Act;

• " permanent trustee " shall be construed in accordance with section 3 of this Act;

• " postponed debt" has the meaning assigned by section 51(3) of this Act;

• " preferred debt " has the meaning assigned by section 51(2) of this Act;

• " prescribed " means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State;

• " protected trust deed " shall be construed in accordance with paragraph 8 of Schedule 5 to this Act;

• " qualified creditor " and " qualified creditors " shall be construed in accordance with section 5(4) of this Act;

• " qualified to act as an insolvency practitioner" means being, in accordance with section 2 of the [1985 c. 65.] Insolvency Act 1985 (qualifications of insolvency practitioners), so qualified:

  Provided that, until the coming into force of that section the expression shall instead mean satisfying such requirements (which, without prejudice to the generality of this definition, may include requirements as to the finding of caution) as may be prescribed for the purposes of this Act;

• " register of insolvencies" has the meaning assigned by section 1(1)(c) of this Act;

• " relevant person " has the meaning assigned by section 44(1)(b) of this Act;

• " secured creditor " means a creditor who holds a security for his debt over any part of the debtor's estate ;

• " security " means any security, heritable or moveable, or any right of lien, retention or preference ;

• " sederunt book" means the sederunt book maintained under section 3(1)(e) of this Act;

• " standard scale " means the standard scale as defined in section 75(b) of the [1982 c. 48.] Criminal Justice Act 1982 ;

• " statutory meeting " has the meaning assigned by section 21(1) of this Act;

• " statutory maximum " has the meaning assigned by section 74(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 1982 ;

• " trust deed " has the meaning assigned by section 5(2)(c) of this Act; and

• " unfair preference " means a preference created as is mentioned in subsection (1) of section 36 of this Act by a transaction to which subsection (4) of that section applies.

(2) Any reference in this Act to a debtor being absolutely insolvent shall be construed as a reference to his liabilities being greater than his assets, and any reference to a debtor's estate being absolutely insolvent shall be construed accordingly.

(3) Any reference in this Act to value of the creditors is, in relation to any matter, a reference to the value of their claims as accepted for the purposes of that matter.

(4) Any reference in this Act to " the creditors " in the context of their giving consent or doing any other thing shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to the majority in value of such creditors as vote in that context at a meeting of creditors.

(5) Any reference in this Act to any of the following acts by a creditor barring the effect of any enactment or rule of law relating to the limitation of actions in any part of the United Kingdom, namely—

(a) the presentation of a petition for sequestration ;

(b) the concurrence in such a petition; and

(c) the submission of a claim,

shall be construed as a reference to that act having the same effect, for the purposes of any such enactment or rule of law, as an effective acknowledgement of the creditor's claim; and any reference in this Act to any such enactment shall not include a reference to an enactment which implements or gives effect to any international agreement or obligation.