§ 19. Sale and compromise of claims and property. The judge may, upon the application of the assignee and for good and sufficient cause shown, and upon such terms as he may direct, authorize the assignee to sell, compromise or compound any claim or debt belonging to the estate of the debtor. But such authority shall not prevent any party interested in the trust estate from showing upon the final accounting of such assignee that such debt or claim was fraudulently or negligently sold, compounded or compromised. The sale of any debt or claim heretofore made in good faith by any assignee shall be valid, subject, however, to the approval of the judge, and the assignee shall be charged with and be liable for, as part of the trust fund, any sum which might or ought to have been collected by him.
All sales shall be had at public auction unless otherwise ordered by the judge. Upon application to the judge, and for good cause shown, the assignee may be authorized to sell any portion of the estate at private sale; in which case he shall keep an accurate record of each article sold, and the price received therefor, and to whom sold; which account he shall file at once. Upon application by the assignee or a creditor setting forth that a part or the whole of the estate is perishable, the nature and location of such perishable property, and that there will be loss if the same is not sold immediately, the judge, if satisfied of the facts stated and that the sale is required in the interest of the estate, may order the same to be sold with or without notice to creditors.
