John McEwen (alternatively spelled McEwan), a flax-dresser in Glasgow, went into bankruptcy. Defenders William Craig, Robert McLintock, and James Clerk were named trustees for the creditors in McEwen's bankruptcy. Pursuer Gilbert Moses, a meal-merchant in Glasgow, was one of McEwen's creditors. The trustees entered into a concert of joint measures, signed by the creditors, for the payment of McEwen's debts to the creditors. In contravention of this concert among the creditors, however, Moses joined McEwen in an action of reduction to overturn the sale and division of McEwen's effects. Among other points, Moses maintained that he was not allowed to read the creditors' agreement prior to signing it. Moses also argued that a tenement of houses that he bought from McEwen prior to McEwen's bankruptcy and in partial satisfaction of McEwen's debt to Moses should remain as Moses' property, and not conveyed to the trustees in McEwen's bankruptcy. The trustees argued that, by acceding to the concert among creditors, Moses agreed to set aside any preferences he may have had to McEwen's debts, including the tenement of houses.
William Morison, The Decisions of the Court of Session (1811), pg. 12352
