1898
THE BANKRUPTCY ACT OF 1898
On July 1, 1898, the Bankruptcy Act of 1898 was signed into law by President William McKinley. The Act became effective immediately, but also provided that no voluntary petitions could be filed until August 1, and that no involuntary petitions could be filed before November 1.
Here are the links to the first 3 voluntary petitions and first involuntary petition filed in Maryland under the Act:
| Case No. 1 | William D. Jacobson, a seller of general merchandise |
| Case No. 2 | Nathan Weinberg |
| Case No. 3 | Lehman Blum |
| Case No. 36 | William J. Mitchison (the first invountary) on behalf of the petitioning creditor, Annie B. Pinning, t/a Pinning & Co |
The original files in these and several other 1898 bankruptcy cases filed in Maryland are on loan from the National Archives until January 2005. Because the papers are fragile, they were electronically scanned by the Information Technology Group of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for convenient viewing by the Bar and Public.