Bankruptcy referee

A Referee in Bankruptcy or Bankruptcy Referee was a federal official with quasi-judicial powers, appointed by a United States district court to administer bankruptcy proceedings, prior to 1979. The office was first created by the Bankruptcy Act of 1898, and was abolished by the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, which created separate United States bankruptcy courts with permanently assigned judges.

The Bankruptcy Act of 1898 established the position of bankruptcy referee "to assist in expeditiously transacting the bankruptcy business". The act specified that referees were to be appointed by the district court for a term of two years, although they could be removed from office or have their jurisdiction over a particular case revoked at any time. The courts could appoint the referees in such numbers "as may be necessary". The fees paid by petitioners in bankruptcy proceedings were used to compensate the referees.

All three earlier, short-lived acts providing for bankruptcy jurisdiction in the federal courts had made provision for the appointment of officers to assist in the administration of bankruptcy cases. The act of 1800 authorized district judges to appoint commissioners with various powers to declare a person a bankrupt, to take possession of a bankrupt's estate, and to assign the bankrupt's property. The next bankruptcy act, in 1841 provided for the appointment of commissioners to receive proof of debts and carry out other administrative duties related to bankruptcy cases. The Act that governed federal bankruptcy from 1867 to 1878 instructed district judges to appoint registers in bankruptcy, who would be nominated by the Chief Justice and assist the judges in a wide range of tasks related to bankruptcy proceedings.

Bankruptcy referees appointed under the Act of 1898 performed a wide range of judicial and administrative functions during the early part of the twentieth century, including the following: the consideration and adjudication of bankruptcy petitions submitted to the district courts; the examination of property schedules and lists of creditors filed by bankrupts; the administering of oaths and depositions to witnesses in bankruptcy proceedings; the maintenance of the records in such proceedings and the transmission of such records to the clerk of court; and the distribution of the property of bankrupts in cases where the district court judge was absent. Referees' decisions on substantive matters were subject to review by the district court.

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