Star.
London, England, 1824-02-19 00:00:00

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and principle of till measure he was about to bring
forward, the Bill having been printed last Session, and
circulated for-the use of the Members of that House.
He bad received a variety of suggestions f. ons many
persons as to the details of the Bill, which he thought
deserved consideration, and awl efore iitetided to intro.
duce them ;. but the principle of the Bill :et/mined pre.
cisely the same. As, however,There might be Gentle- •
men present who were not 'in the House when the n.ea-
sure was under consideration list year, and .who were
not acquainted with what then passed relating to this
subject, he would shortlystite the object of the Bill,
It had tong been a subject of general notoriety anai.
complaint among persons engaged in every branch of
trade, that they *ere exposed to the• reatest inconvepi.!
.ence and continual losses from debts under ; • the
pense of legal process for the recovery' of which wall s 9
ore:a, it was thought not worth while tolutve recouripso
Tnere were certain trades, the transacitc***:4)cji
wem for the mist part 'of small amount, end' the per-
sons carrying them on fleeces:v-4 had upon their books
a large portion of debts tinder IG/. so that they wee
vtithout any effectual remedy, and were almost entirely
dependent for the payment of !bow debts Upon the
honour of those who owed•them. This was an evil of
such magnitude, that it ieiglit not to be suffered to rt.
main tiny lon,zer .without a remedy,. which it was crag
.Object of his Bill to provide foi:. For that end, he pro:
posed•that an As•essor Should he appointed Under thy
Stieriff for each County, who should go the Circuit of
the 'County at stated periods, and holt! Courts for th 4
recovery of debts under-10/. in such towns as the Just.
tices of the Peace for the County, in Quarter .Sessions
'assembled, should think proper to appoint such Courts to
be held in. This, under such regulations as the House
in Committee might apptcve, cold, he thought,pro.
vide an effectual mode of relief fur the evil complained
of. Be therefore moved, that 10%4 be given to bring
in a Bill to provide for the more easy recovery of small
debts in England. and Wales."
Mr. J: SMITH said, that if he sr ere called upon to
state what, in his opinion, was the most oppressive pat;
of the law of this country, he should say, the process
for the recovery of small debts. Ql,e, instance which •
had recently,occurred within his 0111 knott•hdge, would
suffice to shew the coriectne-s of that opinioa. A few.
weeks ago, a servant of his was served with the process
of the Court for the recovery of a debt arnoun!i;lg to
31.85. He made no defence, and yet the costs of ti.e suit,
which fell upon him, amounted to almost 144.—(Hear.)
So that a man who owed no more than 31.85. might,
by an 111-dispOsed ca editor, be sued, and by the accuorn•
lation of costs upon that debt, be compelled to gut?
prison or pay eiLts. The offi.:er who served the pro.
cess-in that case, said that h:aray a day passed in iehidh
'he did not in the course of his duty arrest several per. •
sons for small debts, and that -those persons generally
snadeup defence. the expense of the .proceedings being
so great. The Noble Lord wa's entitled to the thanks
of the Ipa:er class of this country for the measure be
seas now bringing forward. He trusted it would meet
with no, oppoiition, as no measure could be more heoefi.
vial to a very numerous class utPttrtoftf•-7-•4c441e.

'V 4c.sio w.siteawrs. ,
Mr. U. Qll.llt hive
IIT said hi'would eto tirna'sift the
House with hut A few words qn tttie. subjest of tktotya-
tion of which he bad given notice, Which vob f9v 4elalff
to bring in a for the tame effccinAl reAa,ipyry of
renaltioshefote ftlagistrates, 494 foy ficilktoing the;
cation of warrants., The object pf Bill for. OilliCP
he inteoded to move Wal IVA to make anx alerao4*.ip
the law itself, but to remedy 'one or two he t{ ka
way of its executiun. The first defect which he proposed
to,supply was in the case of a conviction l: Pure Nag*
trates where pet alty was decreed ; the macla`of levy.
ing that penalty in the event of non-payment was by
distress upon the gooks of the part};, but if ;hire were
no gqods tq distraln upon, the -44gistrate 40i having it
in his power to detain the party until th:ti fact could be
ascertained, the party had only to recalle out of the
jurisdiction of the Alagistrate in order tp evade the pe-
nalty. He therefore proposefl to give the Magistrate
power to detain a party c.;.nrrieccd Pefore him in a
penalty until, the fine was paid, at until it was ascer-
tained that he had property which could be distrained
upon for the amount. . The other defect which he was
anxious tp remedy wasin tbose cases se bete the constable
of a Partictilar parish to whom a warrant might be di.
reefed for the apprehension of 3 party, was liable tp
punishment. for going even to the stnalleA distance 14.
'and the bounds of ttis parish to execute such warrant.
He therefore moved for leave to bring in a Bill to
•amencl the law in there respects.-4eave given.

THE BANKRUPT LAWS.
Mr. COURTENAY said, the Motion of which he bad
given notice, related 'to the Bankrupt Laws, a subject
which had so'otten been before the House, and of the
nature of which the House was so well AKA; e, that he
did not feel it necessary to trouble them mid much ob-
servation upon it on this occasion. The immediate ob-
ject of the Bill which he proposed to introduce was the
consolidation of the various Acts now in force relating
to the subject, so as to bring under one view the *hole
of the law relating to Bankruptcy, whereby every per-
son would at once be enabled to see how far It might
apply to his own particular circumstances. Some alter-
ation of the law would also be found to be necessary,
on which he would not now detain the House by going
into details.. There were, however•, one or two import-
ant points, which it might be proper to mention. The
first of these was a clause which it was his intention to
propose, by which, under certain restrictions, a man
might be allowed to render himself subject to the ope-
ration of the bankrupt laws, which he conceived there
might be found means •to enable him to do in many
cases, with great propriety and advantage. Another
was an alteration Which he meant.to *pose in the re-
gulation of bankrdpts' certificates, both acre the grant-
mg of them and as to their effect. He conoido by
moving for leave to bring iu a Bill tri•cuffsoliate and '
amend the Laws relating to Bank:opts.
Mr.J.SMITH gait; he did not rat to -Oppose the
Motion, but he felt bound in duty to hiniticlf and those
who had cooperated with him in the .efforts he had
made towards procuring an alteration and amendment
of the Bankrupt ,to state that the Bill which
,the Bight Honourable Gentleman intenl.l.lto bring
frr-