The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-16 00:00:00

FRAUDULENT DEBTORS.

Lord WYNFORD presented a petition to which he was
anxious to call the attention of their Lordships. It was
from three young ladies named Skerrett, residing in Staf-
fordshire, complaining of great hardship, from the want
of such a law as that to which he was soon about to call
their Lordships' attention, in the Committee on the Bill
he had introduced. The petitioners stated that their father
Trill lent the sum of 10,0001. to a Mr. F—., at that time
a Magistrate of Staffordshire ; that soon after that their
father died, and that his executors sued this gentleman for
the money, and in 1824. obtained is judgment against him,
on which he was taken in execulion, and had remained in
e.ustody in the rules of the King's Bench pri;on since then
with property in his possession ; but that the petitioners,
though in a state of the greatest distress, had never since
been able to obtain payment of any part of the debt. They
therefore prayed that tome means might he adopted to
compel debtors acting under similar circumstances to give
up their property to their creditors.—The petition was
read, and ordered to lie on the table.
The NOBLE and LEARNED Loan then moved the Order
of the Day for going into the Committee on the Fraudis-
lent Debtors' Bill.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said, that inconsequence
of a communication made to bins by seine of the Judges of
Westminster-ball, one of them o.:Xlember of their Lord-

ships' house, lie was induced to request his Noble and
Learned Friend to put off the Committee till some day next
week, which he presumed his Noble and Learned Friend
would not object to, as the second reading had passed
without discussion. The principle of the Bill he concurred
in : he and his Noble and Learned Friend had the same
object in view—that of preventing frauds on the part of
debtors; but the difficulty he felt was, that the Act, as
his Noble and'Learned Friend proposed it, would have the
effect of bringing the business of the Insolvent Courts into
the courts of common law.

Lord WYNFORD said he could not resist the request of
his Noble and Learned Friend, but he was rather surprised
at the ground on which it was asked, as the Judges Lad
had the Bill before them eight weeks. His Noble and
Learned Friend was mistaken in supposing that the Bill
would have the effect he had described. It would not in-
terfere with those who chose to go to the Insolvent Court,
but it would bring those who would of themselves never go
to the court; for nearly all who went to the Insolvent
Court had nothing to give up. Those who had any thing
stayed away, aryl remained in prison. His great object
was to prevent fraudulent debtors from living in compara-
tive affluence in the rules of the King's Bench or Fleet,
while their unfortunate creditors were starving. He would
compel such parties to give up their property, but he would
not compel them until judgment had been obtained against
them. According to the present law, a man might go before
the Insolvent Court when in custody on mesne proces ; but
in this Bill he could not be compelled to make a surrender
of his property until in custody in execution.
The Bill was then postponed to'Friday week.
The Earl of SHREWSBURY presented several peti-
tions from many parts of Ireland against the Subletting
Act, and for an alteration of the tithe system.—Adjourned
to Thursday.