Owen J. Roberts

“ If, however, the statute does not deal unfairly with the petitioners it does not lie in their mouths to object because someone else perchance will receive a larger proportion of his ultimate loss as the same is ascertained years hence than will the petitioners. Congress, not unreasonably, felt that it was necessary, in the interest of expedition of proof and allowance of landlords' claims, which had never theretofore been permitted to share in a bankrupt debtor's assets, to fix a reasonable limit upon such claims. ”

“ The short answer is that the object of bankruptcy laws is the equitable distribution of the debtor's assets amongst his creditors; [5] and the validity of the challenged provision must be tested by its appropriateness to that end. Congress, in determining what such an equitable distribution demands, is free to establish standards of provability and measures of allowance regardless of the claimant's ability to maintain an action in a court or the measure of his recovery in such an action if maintainable. The contested provision is within the power of Congress. ”

“ The respondent stockholders' committee does not now deny that the petitioners have a provable claim but joins the trustee in support of the decision below that the allowance must be limited for all purposes of the proceeding to three years' rent.
We have held in City Bank Farmers Trust Company v. Irving Trust Company [2] that the broad definition of creditors in section 77B gives the petitioners a provable claim for breach of the debtor's covenant of indemnity. ”

“ Naturally the smount fixed cannot bear the same relation to the ultimate loss or damage in every case. But it does not follow that, for this reason, all effort at uniformity of treatment of a peculiar class of claims, difficult of liquidation, is doomed to condemnation. ”