The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-14 00:00:00

CINQUE PORT PILOTS.

On the motion of Sir T. TROUBRIDGE, a Select
Committee was appointed to inquire into the laws and
regulations relating to the Cinque Port pilots, consisting
of the following Members :
Troubridge, Sir E. Anson, Hon. G. Lewis, T. F.
Thompson, P. B. Warre, J. A. Carter, J. B.
Marryatt, Sir J. Rumbold, C. E. Plumptre, J. P.
Marjoribanks, S. Chapman, M. L. Lemon, Sir C.
Herries, J. C. Adam, Admiral C. Reid, Sir J. R.
Codrington, Sir E. Yorke, J. • , Bouverie, Captain
Fremantle, Sir T. Young F. Labouchere, H.
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.

The SOLICITOR- GENERAL felt great reluctance in
pressing on the attention of the House at that late hour
(one o'clock), but as the subject which he had to bring
under their notice was one of importance, namely, the Law
of Debtor and Creditor, he felt great anxiety to lay the plan
which he had in view before the House, and he would name
a distant day on which the matter might be reconsidered;
although be feared it would be difficult to get the measure
proposed by him passed during the present session. The
great object which he had in view was the reform of the
Law of Debtor and Creditor. He wished to give the cre-
ditor a proper, speedy, and effectual remedy against his
debtor, and at the same time to protect the debtor against
the tyranny or injustice of his creditor.--( Hear.) The first
part of his plan was to allow any holder of a bill or pro-
missory note immediate execution upon such bill or pro-
missory note. This was the case in almost every other
country but England. In France it was so, and also in Scot-
land. But here there was great delay, and the property was
often uselessly squandered among lawyers, instead of go-
ing to the use of the creditor. By his plan, how-
ever, that would be done away with, and execution would
be issued on application to, and giving satisfying reasons
for the granting of the execution, to a Judge. The next
proposal was to give the power to the creditor of searching
for and discovering the property of his debtor, and applying
it in liquidation of his debt. As the law at present stood,
the creditor might take the person of his debtor, but
could not get bold of his property, and in case of his refusal
there was no remedy where the debt amounted to a smaller
sum than 3001. ; but by the plan now proposed, the
debtor might be compelled to disclose his property, and
the property would be assigned for the benefit of the
creditor.—.(Hear, hear.) And if the debtor refused to
disclose his property, he might be sent to prison as a frau-
dulent debtor, for it was intended (and he contended
very properly) that the fraudulent bankrupt should be
punishable for his fraud—(Hear, hear)—and if he con-
tinued to withhold his property, that he should be de-
tained in gaol till he revealed it. The next part of the
plan was, to give the creditor a remedy against every
species of property which the debtor might possess. At
present the creditor had no remedy where the debtor's
property was copyhold, and in freehold property
his remedy was very imperfect. He proposed that
land, whether freehold or copyhold, should be liable
for debts--( Hear, hear)—and also all money in
the funds, secured by bond, or by any other security, of
whatever nature.—(Hear, hear.) The next part of the
plan was directed to the relief and protection of the honest
but unfortunate debtor. Under the law, as it at present
stood, every debtor was obliged to go to prison belore he
could get a discharge. This was attended with great
waste of property, and the expenses were enormous ; and,
after all, the debtor's property continued liable for the
amount of his debts ; the consequence of which was, that
the debtor, seeing that he would have to work for the
benefit of another man only, frequently became callous and
indifferent, and sunk into lethargy, from a mere conscious-
ness that he could not benefit himself by his labours.
Now he proposed that the debtor, by giving up the whole
of his property of every description, would be entitled to
receive from his creditors a certificate, which would re-
lieve both his person and any property he might in future
acquire from arrest for his former debts. These were the
principal provisions of his proposed measure, as far as
regarded the honest but unfortunate debtor. With
regard to the fraudulent bankrupt, he proposed, that if
any person obtained goods from another person, with
intent to defraud that person, and then ran away, he
should be deemed guilty of felony ; and if a bank-
rupt gave in a false statement of his property, that
he should be guilty of a misdemeanor. At present, a
bankrupt giving in a false statement of the amount of his
property, was deemed guilty of felony; the consequence of
which was, that creditors seldom chose to prosecute such
persons, and they consequently escaped punishment in
general altogether. Then, in case of a debtor being
likely to abscond without paying his debts, in Scotland
they had the remedy of a meditatione funae warrant, in
order to obtain which it was necessary for the creditor
to swear that he believed the debtor intended to flee the
country, and get beyond the jurisdiction of the Court. He
(the Solicitor General) proposed that in all cases in which
the debtor was about to abscond, the creditor should go
before a Magistrate and swear that he believed the debtor
was about to quit the country, and the Magistrate would
he empowered to grant a warrant. In this manner a
creditor could get hold of the debtor. instead of following
the present clumsy mode by means of a latitat. These
were the principal provisions of the Bill which he intend.
ed to introduce, and he would not trouble the House by
going further into the detail of the principles of it A that
time. By this measure an enormous suns would be saved
in the mere matter of giving bail. Perhaps it was not
known to the House (and inched it could hardly be be-
beved), that upwards of 300,0001. was spent annually in
giving bail, all of which would by this measure go into
the pockets of the creditors.—(Hear, hear, hear.) The
Learned Gentleman concluded by moving for leave to
bring in a Bill for abolishing imprisonment for debt, and
for the more effectual payment of creditors.
After a short conversation, leave was given to bring in
the Bill.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL presently brought in
the Bill, which was read a first time, and ordered to be
read a second time on Wednesday se'nnight.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of; and
at a quarter before two o'clock this morning the House
adjourned.