CHANGE OF INTEREST   649

said Cochrane, which resulted in an adjudication made on the 1st day of April, 1870, declaring and adjudging him a bankrupt, and the register in bankruptcy, on the 30th day of April, 1870, by virtue of the bankrupt act, conveyed and assigned to the assignee, selected by the creditors, all the estate, real and personal, of the said bank• rapt, including all the property, of whatever kind, of which he was then possessed, or in which he was interested or entitled to have on the 26th day of January, 1870 (the time when the bankruptcy proceedings were commenced), * * *.

At the close of the evidence the defendant's counsel moved for a nonsuit, on the ground that the involuntary proceedings in bankruptcy produced such a change of title in the property insured as to render the policy void by the terms thereof. The motion was granted, and an exception taken theretofore was ordered to be heard in the first instance at General Term. * * *

LOTT, ('ll. C. The act of Congress entitled "An act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States", approved March 2, 1867 (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. 14, p. 517), by section 14 thereof, declares that as soon as an assignee in bankruptcy is appointed and has qualified, the judge of the court of bankruptcy, or, where there is no opposing interest, the register in bankruptcy, shall, by an instrument under his hand, assign and convey to the assignee all the estate, real and personal, of the bankrupt, with all his books and papers relating thereto; that such assignment shall relate back to the commencement of the proceedings in bankruptcy, and that thereupon, by operation of law, the title to all such property and estate, both real and personal (except certain property exempted from its operation not embracing or including that in question), shall vest in the said assignee. The question is then presented, whether the policy in question had be-come void at the time the fire occurred—which was on the 23d of May. 1870—more than a month after Cochrane, the assured, was adjudged to be a bankrupt, and twenty-three days after the date and execution of the said assignment by the register to the assignee in bankruptcy. There can be no doubt that Cochrane had then ceased to be the owner of the premises, and that there had been a transfer and change of title effected by the bankrupt proceedings, although the himself had not made a sale or voluntary transfer or conveyance thereof. Is the transfer and change of title so made a violation of the condition or provision of the policy above referred to? I cannot doubt that it is. The bankrupt act above referred to declared the several District Courts of the United States to be "constituted courts of bankruptcy," with original jurisdiction in their respective districts, in all matters and proceedings in bankruptcy, and they were thereby "authorized to hear and adjudicate upon the same," according to the provisions of the said act. The policy in question was issued after that act took effect; and the