In the case where it is a broker and not a jobber who fails, the clients stand to be affected still less by the failure. The bargains open are between the clients on the one hand and the jobbers on the other, the broker being a mere agent or intermediary. The bargains are completed in the ordinary way without the further intervention of the broker, or another broker is selected to complete them. Cases have arisen in which the client has actually tried to turn the failure of his broker to his own advantage by declaring, when prices have moved against him, that the bargain is off altogether, or by claiming that the transaction should be closed at the hammer-price, when that price happens to be in his favour. Litigation has arisen over these points and does now arise; in fact, the state of the law as regards the relationship existing between outside clients and the Stock Exchange when its members fail cannot be said to be very clearly defined. One decision has abrogated another, and it can scarcely be said that any of the many intricate questions that arise have been settled definitely enough to carry conviction to the minds of dissatisfied and litigious clients.
The questions which arise between members of the Stock Exchange themselves are far more easily settled, thanks to the autocratic power of the Committee, to which members are amenable. A member does not care to offend the Committee, even if he feels that the treatment he receives at the hands of its officials constitutes an unjust hardship. The defaulter, who has to place himself unreservedly in the hands of the Official Assignees, giving up his books and so on, may feel less amenable, especially as he has ceased to be a member of the Stock Exchange, and has little to gain by obedient acquiescence, but considerations of the possibility of readmission generally assert themselves. These considerations are naturally important, because they mean the resumption of his profession. Any refusal to deliver up books, or any placing of difficulties in the way of the Official Assignees, means the postponement of readmission, if it does not render it impossible.
A defaulter may be readmitted upon application, if the small sub-committee appointed from the Committee to consider the case finds that he is entitled to readmission. As a result of an examination of his books showing the kind of accounts he had open, and as a result of an inquiry into his conduct preceding and subsequent to his failure, they report as to whether the failure has arisen through his own speculations or through the failure of his principals, whether he has been guilty of any bad faith or breach of the rules, whether the amount involved in his engagements was in reasonable proportion to his means and resources. Even where the conduct of a defaulter has been marked by indiscretion and by the absence of reasonable caution, the defaulter may be readmitted, but the decision of the Committee as to the readmission must remain posted in the Stock Exchange for thirty days, and the notice may indicate whether he is of the class of defaulters who have been brought down by misfortunes beyond their control, or of the class whose failure is brought about by rash speculation. In any case, no defaulter can be readmitted unless he has paid his creditors at least 6_s._ 8_d._ in the pound from his own resources apart from any moneys that may be receivable from his sureties. Moreover, the Committee expects that he shall make up any deficiency at the earliest possible moment until he has paid 20_s._ in the pound. For this reason the Committee periodically inquires into his position, and if a readmitted member were to become very prosperous and yet refuse to pay up his creditors in full, when the time for his annual re-election came round he might find himself left outside the fold.