The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-17 00:00:00

IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.

The Act of this session, 1844, introduces no new
system; it only makes such additions to the Act of 1842,
as experience had recommended.

The two Acts of 1842 and 1844, taken together, com-
pletely put an end to imprisonment for debt. Whoever
is in debt to an amount not exceeding twenty pounds,
exclusive of costs, if there has been a judgment, is pro-
tected absolutely from all imprisonment, and if he is at
present in prison, he is immediately discharged, upon
application to the Court which ordered his arrest.
Whoever is indebted to an amount exceeding twenty
pounds, has only to petition to the Court of Bankruptcy
if he lives in London, or the District Court if he lives in
the country, and he obtains an order protecting him from
arrest, or an order for his discharge if he is already in
prison. He must surrender his property, and give an
account of that, and of his debts. This is all he has to
do ; and unless he shall be found by the Court to have
been guilty of fraud, or of crime, or of gross extrava-
gance, he is free from all arrest. If he is found to have
practised any fraud, as having obtained goods on false
representations, having made away with his property to
defraud his creditors, or having committed any breach of
trust, and so forth, or if he has incurred debt, upon a
judgment in an action on assault, slander, seduction, or
other wrongful acts, or if he has run extravagantly into
debt, without any means whatever, or even any probable
expectation of paying it, he does not obtain his imme-
diate discharge, but may be imprisoned for a time by
order of the judge who examined the whole case. But
it no longer depends upon the will of the creditor whether
or not the debtor shall be imprisoned, or if imprisoned,
how long he shall remain in confinement ; this now
depends solely on the court ; and the court has ROW no
power to order or to continue the imprisonment for more
than twelve calendar months, in any circumstances. This
imprisonment is manifestly not punishment for debt, but
punishment for crime, and it is absolutely necessary that
such punishment should be inflicted, to protect honest
creditors against the frauds and other mal-practices of
dishonest, evil-disposed, or grossly extravagant persons.
It is also to be borne in mind, that no debtor can
obtain either the protecting order, or if in custody, the
liberating order, unless he discloses the nature and
amount, both of his debts and credits, and property, and
that this property, and those credits, are taken possession
of by the Court, and distributed among his creditors, if
the final order for his protection is made.
All persons, who are not traders within the bankrupt
laws, or who, being such traders, do not owe above three
hundred pounds, are entitled to take the benefit of these
Acts, 1842 and 1844, whether they are in custody or not.
Persons being traders within the bankrupt laws, and
owing more than that sum, are left to the remedies
and the process provided by those laws in the case of
bankrupts.
Debtors of twenty pounds, and under, do not come
within the description of persons who must obtain their
protection or liberation by means of the Court of Bank-
ruptcy. They cannot be now arrested at all for such
small debts ; if already arrested, they are uncondition-
ally set free, their property only being liable to the pro-
cess of their creditors. But if it shall appear to the
judge trying the cause, that any such debt of twenty
pounds or under was incurred by fraud, or by running
wilfully in debt without any reasonable prospect of being
able to pay, or that the debtor has fraudulently made
away with his property, or removed or concealed it with
intent to defraud his creditors, then the judge may order
his imprisonment, as a punishment for such misconduct,
but only for such time as the Small Debt Court now has
power to imprison, and in no case for more than six
calendar months.

To obtain the protection given by the statutes, 1842
and 1844, it is necessary that a abtor should present a
petition to the London Court of Bankruptcy, or the Dis-
trict Court of Bankruptcy, and make an affidavit in the
form set forth in the schedule hereunto annexed. Each
sheet of the petition and schedule should be signed by
the petitioner, and attested by some one acting either as
his agent or his attorney.
In order to obtain a protecting order, or an order libe-
rating from custody, or in any way to obtain the benefit
of these Acts, 1842 and 1844, it is not necessary to em-
ploy an attorney or solicitor. Any one may act as a
debtor's agent, and sign witness to his affidavit. Any
one may sign the petition and schedule ; for the order
of the Court of Bankruptcy requiring an attorney to
sign the several sheets of the petition and schedule, does
not require that it should be an attorney-at-law ; any
one may act for another as a common attorney. Also,
the late Act 1844 expressly allows the petition to be
witnessed by an attorney or agent.
The affidavit must be sworn before a Master Extraor-
dinary in Chancery, who is also a Commissioner for
taking affidavits. All attorneys or solicitors are Masters
Extraordinary, and are bound to take affidavits, without
being employed professioaally by the parties.
As certain writers in the newspapers have completely
misstated the provisions of these Acts (1842 and 1844),
especially representing them as inflicting no imprison-
ment or punishment upon persons who run in debt
through gross and culpable extravagance, it is necessary
to attend particularly to the foregoing statement of the
law. There can be nothing more mischievous as regards
the interests of honest tradesmen, nor more wantonly
cruel as regards thoughtless and extravagant persons,
than to encourage the latter running in debt, beyond any
hope of being able to pay, by telling them that they
may do so with impunity. It is believed that the error
here pointed out arose from great inadvertence, or from
a desire to attack the late measures of the Legislature ;
but its consequences are equally mischievous, whatever
may have been its origin.
Another Act has just passed to render compositions of
debtors with their creditors more easy and advantageous
to all parties. But as it relates not to the release of per-
sons in custody, there is no occasion here to state its

provisions.
Brougham (Penrith), Aug. 15, 1844.

FORMS TO BE COPIED AND SIGNED BY
THE DEBTOR.
(A. No. 1.)
FORM OF PETITION FOR PROTECTION FROM PROCESS.
To the Court of Bankruptcy, London,
or
To the District Court of Bankruptcy.

The humble Petition of*

Showeth, That your petitioner is not a trader within
the meaning of the statutes now in force relating to
bankrupts.t
That your petitioner has resided twelve calendar
months within the district of this Honourable Court,t
that is to say,
That your petitioner has become indebted to divers
creditors, whose names are inserted in the schedule (A)
[or as the case may be] to this his petition annexed, and
that he is unable to pay his debts in full.
That your petitioner bas examined the said schedule,
and that such schedule contains a full and true account
of your petitioner's debts, and the claims against him,
with the names of his creditors and claimants, and the
dates of contracting the debts and claims severally, as
nearly as such debts can be stated, the nature of the
debts and claims, and securities (if any) given for the
same, and that there is reasonable ground in his belief
for disputing so much of the debts as are thereby men-
tioned as disputed, and also a true account of the nature
and amount of his property, and an inventory of the
same, and of the debts owing to him, with their dates,
as nearly as such dates can be stated, and the names of
his debtors, and the nature of the securities (if any)
which he has for such debts ; and that the said schedule
doth also contain a balance-sheet of so much of his re-
ceipts and expenditures as is required by this Honour-
able Court in that behalf, and doth folly and truly de-
scribe the wearing apparel, bedding, and other such
necessaries of your petitioner and his family, and his
working tools and implements.
That your petitioner has not parted with or charged
any of his property (except for the necessury support of
himself and family), and the necessary expenses (not
exceeding
) of this his petition, or in
.£
the ordinary course of trade), at any time within three
months of the date of tilingth is his petition, or at any
time with a view to this petition.
That your petitioner is desirous that his estate should
be administered under the protection and direction of
this Honourable Court, and that he verily believes such
estate is of the value of £ at the least
unincumbered, and beyond the value of his wearing ap-
parel, and other matter which your petitioner is autho-