BANKRUPTCY-POWERS OF THE TRUSTEE-LlENS BY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE PROCEEDINGS UNDER SECTION 70c

Husband and wife filed a petition in bankruptcy. They petitioned the United States District Court for the Southern District of California to set aside their residence from the bankruptcy estate as exempt property. They had not filed their declaration of homestead until after the petition in bankruptcy. The district court set aside the property as exempt. On appeal, held, affirmed. Under California law homestead exemptions can be perfected after a petition in bankruptcy. The trustee\u27s claim that section 70c of the Bankruptcy Act gave him a lien that prevailed over a homestead claim subsequently recorded was denied on the ground that the section refers only to a lien obtained by \u27\u27legal or equitable proceedings. California requires that judgments be recorded before a lien can arise on California land, and therefore there could be no lien on the property \u27\u27by legal or equitable proceedings, since the act of recording is not itself part of a legal or equitable proceeding. Sampsell v. Straub, (9th Cir. 1951) 189 F. (2d) 379