Parish, &C v. Khones

This case was about the effect in Scotland of foreign bankruptcy proceedings involving Joseph Turner, a merchant in Bremen, Germany. After Turner became bankrupt, creditors John Parish and John Henrich Schreiber & Co. arrested (i.e., attached) some yarn belonging to Mr. Turner, which had been consigned to merchants in Scotland. The yarn was subsequently released to three men who claimed to be trustees for Turner’s creditors: Jacob Khone, John Khone, and John Andrew Uhtoff Ludson, all merchants in Bremen. These trustees disposed of the yarn and initiated a court proceeding in Scotland to determine who was entitled to the proceeds. They claimed that Parish and Schreiber had acceded to the trust and therefore could not assert a preference based on their earlier arrestments. In support of this argument, the trustees relied on laws of Bremen which, they alleged, provided for the effects of a bankrupt to be taken into the management of the senate; some number of senators were then chosen as trustees by the creditors. The trustees also provided certificates from the Bremen senate describing the defenders’ participation in this process. The petitioners argued that this was not sufficient evidence of the trust, and that the trust had no effect in Scotland.