The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-17 00:00:00

THE b/tiN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 11, 1865

the body of his debtor. It was also propoied that tho credi-
tors should have the freest access to the property of the
debtor, which from the time of the insolvency should be
vested in their own management. They proposed to abo-
lish the present system of bankruptcy, and in lion thereof

that creditors should have the power of choosing their own
officers and managing their own affairs themselves. But
there was this difficulty, that it was practically impossible
to get individual creditors to look after their own affairs
and those of other creditors. It was proposed to abolish
altogether as soon as practicable the whole system of bank-
ruptcy as it now existed, than which it was not possible to
devise a worse system. The change suggested had the

most careful consideration of the committee, and they were

encouraged in the bold course they had taken by a com-
munication which had been made to them by the Lord
Chancellor, the plan of whose bill, in fact, they had
almost entirely adopted. The committee, however, did
_ _ _

did not concur with the noble and learned lord with re-
spect to making the discharge of the debtor depend en-
tirely upon the acquiescence of the creditor. If the re-
commendations of the committee as now laid on the table,
and which were the result of great care, deliberation,
and thought, were passed into law, he believed they would
produce the greatest possible benefit to the commerce of
the country. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. AYRTON seconded the motion, and said he thought
it had been sufficiently shown that the present bankruptcy
law had entirely failed ; but if that was the only result at
which Parliament had arrived after devoting itself for
nearly 300 years to the subject, he could not help, as a
memberof the committee, feeling some distrust in the deci-
sion at which they had arrived, and so great was his own
diffidence that he would have abandoned the question, only
that he believed there was underlying the whole system of
legislation some great radical errors, which it was the ob-
ject of the resolutions of the committee to remove. One
evil of the present system was the relying on the impri-

sonment of the debtor at the instance of the creditor as the
best means of getting satisfaction for the debt. It was not
a little remarkable that in this country, which set so great
a value on liberty, there was so little respect for the liberty
of debtors. Perhaps this neglect about the personal liberty
of the debtor was a relic of an age of violence. Unfortu-
nately, the law as it now existed only took cognisance of
that description of property which could be disposed of by
the officer of the court, and hence full satisfaction for the
judgment could not be obtained. Imprisonment for debt
seemed to defeat the very object of the creditor, for if the
debtor was possessed of no property, nothing was gained
by putting him in prison. By imprisoning a debtor having
any trade or profession, he was thereby deprived of the
means of paying off any claims upon him. There was
another evil connected with the system, namely, that of
losing sight of the line of demarcation between civil and
criminal proceedings—proceedings to obtain satisfac-
tion for a debt, and those resorted to for the
purpose of punishment. The committee came to
the conclusion that it was absolutely necessary
to sweep away those underlying fallacies, and
insist upon the total abolition of imprisonment for debt.
When, however, a debtor sought to abscond it was neces-
sary to take precautionary measures, and the committee
therefore resolved that the power of detaining an abscond-
ing debtor should be retained. The committee next re-
solved that the power of issuing a summons requiring a
debtor to appear which had been restricted to debts above
£5O, should be extended to all descriptions of claims which
could be preferred. So that if the view of the committee
were adopted, and imprisonment ceased, there would be the
amplest opportunity given to the creditor to enforce his
claim to the full extent of the property of the debtor. This
would reduce bankruptcy in practice to the simple condi-
tion of a man being unable to meet the demands of his cre-
ditors, retaining only that portion of the previous law
which declared that acts in anticipation of insolvency
should itself constitute bankruptcy. It would then no
longer be necessary to have courts of justice established all
over the country for the mere purpose of making a man a
bankrupt. The process would be reduced to a simple act
of record or authentication of the status of the bankrupt
by an officer. That function the committee thought could
be performed by the county courts all over the country,
and to meet the special case of the metropolis by the
foundation of a new court. A consideration of the position
of secured creditors, and of the fact that they exercised an
influence over the bankrupt's estate, which generally led to
the appointment of assignees favourable to their claims, in-
duced the committee to resolve that, after the adjudication
of bankruptcy, the bankrupt should be left exactly as he
was before, without any change being made in the custody
of his property, ho being responsible to his creditors for its
safe custody ; and that only the unsecured creditors should
be allowed to direct the administration of the estate.
An HON. MEMBER here moved that the house be
counted. As thirty-six members only were present, the
house adjourned at a quarter-past eight o'clock.

The Irish International Exhibition,

DUBLIN, MAY 16.
The British department of the International Ex.

hibition, which has been set apart for the display oi

our home manufactures, deserves our first attention