Ii determining the meaning of the revised statutes, or of any act or resolution of Congress passed subsequent to February twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, words importing the singular number may extend and be applied to several persons or things; words importing the plural number may include the singular; words importing the masculine gender may he applied to females; the words "insane person" and "lunatic" shall include every idiot, non compos, lunatic, and insane person; the word "person" may extend and be applied to partnerships and corporations, and the reference to any officer shall include any person authorized by law to perform the duties of such office, unless the context shows that mlliit words were intended to be used in a more limited sense; and a requirement of an "oath" shall be deemed complied with by making affirmation in judicial form.
Act of Feb. 25, 1871, c. 71, § 2, 16 Stat. 431; Act of July 13, 1866, c. 184, § 44, 14 Stat. 163; Act of June 30, 1864, c. 173, §§ 82 & 126, 13 Stat. 258 & 287; Act of July 20, 1868, c. 186, § 104 15 Stat. 166.
As the statutory compiler noted, and as I have seen myself, "Provisions of a general nature, similar to those in this section (Revised Statutes § 1) are contained in the Bankruptcy Act of 1898 . . . ."