It is, however, required of national bankrupt laws that they shall be uniform, The uniformity is a geographical one. The laws must, in all their provisions, be equally applicable to all of the States, and to incorporated territories.13

By Section 6 of the act of 1898 it is provided that: "This act shall not affect the allowance to bankrupts of the exemptions which are prescribed by the state laws in force at the time of the filing of the petition in the State wherein they have had their domicile for the six months, or the greater portion thereof, immediately preceding the filing of the petition." A somewhat similar provision appeared in the act of 1867. These exemptions, the character and amount of which are thus made dependent on state laws, have been held not to destroy that geographical uniformity which the Constitution requires.14

11 Denny v. Bennett, 128 U. S. 489; 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 134: 32 L. ed. 491. See also Brown v. Smart, 145 U. S. 454; 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 958; 36 L. ed. 773.

12 In re Klein. 1 How. 277 note; Hanover Nat. Bank v. Moyses, 186 U. S. 181; 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 857; 46 L. ed. 1113.

13 Quaere as to unincorporated territories.

In Re Deckert15 the court say: "The power to except from the operation of the law property not liable to execution under the exemption laws of the several States, as they were actually enforced, was at one time questioned, upon the ground that it was a violation of the constitutional requirement of uniformity, but it has thus far been sustained, for the reason that it was made a rule of the law to subject to the payment of debts under its operation only such property as could by judicial process be made available for the same purpose. This is not unjust, as every debt is contracted with reference to the rights of the parties thereto under existing exemption laws, and no creditor can reasonably complain if he gets his full share of all that the law, for the time being, places at the disposal of creditors. One of the effects of a bankrupt law is that of a general execution issued in favor of all the creditors of the bankrupt, reaching all his property subject to levy, and applying it to the payment of all his debts according to their respective priorities. It is quite proper, therefore, to confine its operation to such property as other legal process could reach. A rule which operates to this effect throughout the United States is uniform within the meaning of that term, as used in the Constitution."

And in Hanover Nat. Bank v. Moyses, the court declare: "We concur in this view, and hold that the system is, in the constitutional sense, uniform throughout the United States, when the trustee [under the Act of 1898] takes in each State whatever would have been available to the creditor if the bankrupt law had not been passed. The general operation of the law is uniform although it may result in certain particulars differently in different States."

14 Nor to violate the principle that Congress may not delegate legislative power to the States. Hanover Nat. Bank v. Moyses, 186 U. S. 181; 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 857; 46 L. ed. 1113.

15 2 Hughes 183, Fed. Cas. No. 3,728.