be continued for a longer time in the aggregate than sixty days from the day so fixed. costs. SEC. 18. Judgment in said action shall be that such Judgment and claim or some amount thereof be allowed, or that the same be disallowed, or that the assignee have and recover from the person making the claim a certain amount. If the claim shall be allowed judgment for cost shall be adjudged against the party or parties contesting the same. If the claim be allowed in part only, the court adjudicating the same shall apportion the costs or adjudge them as may be just. If the claim be wholly disallowed, or the assignee recover judgment, costs shall be adjudged against the claimant, but in no case shall costs be paid out of the assigned estate except as in this act otherwise provided. In such cause the claimant shall be named as plaintiff and the contestant or contestants as defendant. Judgment in favor of the assignee or for costs shall be collected as in other Whenever any contested claim shall be finally allowed, or so much thereof as shall be finally allowed, shall be entered of record in like manner as other claims. cases. county court. SEC. 19. No petition in error shall be allowed from Appeal from the judgment of the county court upon a contested claim, but either party may appeal therefrom as in other cases. Upon such appeal the cause shall be docketed in the district court within twenty days after the filing of the appeal bond, and shall stand for trial at the next term of the district court thereafter, or at the same term if the court shall be in session at the time it is docketed, and upon the same pleadings upon which the same shall have been tried in the county court; Provided however, That the court may for sufficient reason grant a continuance to either party as in other cases, and may order any pleading to be amended, or allow any plead Duties of Private sale, how conducted. ing or pleadings to be withdrawn and a motion or de murrer to be filed in lieu thereof. In all other respects the cause shall proceed as nearly as may be as in other cases. SEC. 20. Immediately upon the return of the inventory and appraisement and the approval of the bond of the assignee, if one shall have been chosen by the creditors, the assignee shall proceed to advertise for sale and sell the assigned estate in all respects as though the same had been taken on execution, issued out of the district court. Real estate so sold shall be conveyed by the assignee to the purchaser or purchasers of the same by a deed or deeds of conveyance, executed and acknowledged as in other cases, which shall convey all the interest the assignor had in the property sold at the date of the assignment. Before such conveyance shall be made the proceedings on such sale shall be returned to and confirmed by the district court or judge as in case of sales of real estate on execution, and the court or judge may set said sale aside or make any order in the premises as in case of such sales on execution. No notice of an application to have such sale confirmed need be given to any person, but any party interested may appear and resist the confirmation, and the application may be made by any person interested, and the assignee may be compelled by attachment by the court or judge to make the returu with all reasonable dispatch; Provided however, That the creditors at their first meeting may, by a like vote as that required for the election of an assignee, require any portion or all the personal property assigned to be sold at private sale. Upon such request the county judge shall make an order that the personal property described in the request shall be sold by the assignee at private sale, and shall direct the mode of such sale, whether the same, being merchandise, shall be sold at retail or in job lots, or both, or otherwise, and whether upon any or upon what notice or advertisement, and such sale shall be solely for cash. Nor shall any such property be sold at private sale for less than its appraised value except upon written application of a majority in amount of the claims voted upon the election of the assignee, fixing the price, and on order of the county court. The court shall also direct by order who shall be employed, if any one, to assist at such private sale, and the amount of his or their compensation, but such private sale shall not continue longer than sixty days after the making of the order authorizing the same. At the expiration of such time the remainder of such estate, if any, shall be immediately advertised and sold in the manner herein before provided. port on sales. SEC. 21. Immediately upon the sale of any portion Assignee's reof the estate, the assignee shall report to the county court the description or descriptions of the property sold and the amount received for the same and shall retain such proceeds subject to the order of the court. He shall also make a like report between the first and fifth days inclusive of every calendar month after his appointment. of funds. SEC. 22. At the expiration of three months from the Distribution date of the inventory and appraisement, or sooner if and as often as the assignee shall be in the possession of sufficient funds, the county court shall order a distribution of all moneys in the assignee's hands, fixing the amount in dollars and cents to be paid to each per. son entitled thereto, and thereupon the assignee and his sureties shall become liable to such person therefor absolutely. The court may also enforce obedience to such order by the assignee by attachment for contempt, and may commit him to the common jail of the county Final distribution. Manner of distributing money. Pending claims. or any other suitable place of confinement and safe keeping until he shall comply therewith. SEC. 23. As soon as the entire estate shall have been converted into money the county court shall make a like order for the final distribution thereof, which shall have the same effect and may be enforced in like manner as the order mentioned in the last preceding section. SEC. 24. Moneys coming into the hands of the assignee shall be distributed in the following manner: First. To the payment of any public tax or assessment charged against the assignor or assignors or his or their property. Second. The payment of the fees and allowances of the assignee, the county judge, sheriff, and officers. Third. The payment of preferred claims in full. Fourth. The balance shall be divided among the creditors, so that the amount paid to each shall bear the same relation to the whole sum to be so divided that the amount of such creditor's claim shall bear to the aggregate amount of all the claims proven. SEC. 25. If at the time any order of distribution is made there shall be any contested claim still being litigated, a dividend shall be declared in its favor in all respects as though the same had been finally allowed, but the assignee shall be directed, in the order of distribution, to retain the same in his hands until the litigation shall be finally determined, and he shall retain the same accordingly. When it shall be certified to the county court by the clerk of the court in which any such action is pending that litigation therein is finally determined, and that the time for appeal or proceedings in error therein has expired, or has been waived, the county court shall make a further order determining the amount of such dividend to which such claimant shall be entitled, if any, and directing the assignee to pay such amount to such claimant and retain the balance of such dividend, if any, to be distributed in the same manner as other funds belonging to the estate. SEC. 26. When all the estate has been converted Final order. into money, and all the contested claims have been finally determined and the result thereof certified to the county court as aforesaid, the court shall make a final order of distribution, which shall be immediately obeyed. SEC. 27. When the final order of distribution shall Discharge of assignee and have been made, and the assignee shall have made return his sureties. and satisfactory proof that he has obeyed all orders of distribution and paid the money as therein directed, the county judge shall enter an order discharging the assignee and the sureties upon his official bond from all liability on account of said trust; but before such order shall be made a time shall be fixed for hearing the matter, and notice thereof shall be given in the manner provided with reference to the first meeting of creditors. allowances. SEC. 28. The following and no other fees and al- Fees and lowances may be allowed and paid out of the assigned estate, viz.: To the attorney or person draughting the deed of assignment, ten dollars; to the county clerk for recording the deed of assignment and bond of assignee, the fees allowed by law for other like services; to the sheriff and appraisers for making and returning the inventory and appraisement, such compensation as may be allowed by the county court, not exceeding two dollars per day each for time necessarily employed; to the county judge for preparing and serving each notice required to be given by him, including his certificate or proof of service thereof, ten cents, besides postage actually paid; for filing and preserving each paper or document required to be filed or preserved in the mat |