Star.
London, England, 1816-03-15 00:00:00

;lignite whether
•thr debt was eriFinally allowed ; it was
for his 'eutprise, That it had continued up-
wards of 600 yekis, iod that k halt been ecknow.
ledrd by innumerable Acts of Parliament. In every
civil community; the judgments of Courts ',tight to
be enforced by tome consequences adequate to ensure
obtelienceto them. Br* as the la* at present stead,
the judgments of (inert: were deprived of their jest
authority. 'Any person, after being in custody for
three months, might apply to an Insolvent Debtors'
Court for relief Arum imprisonment, on the simple
condition of giving up all his property. The person
imprisoned-had an option whether he would apply
for that relief or stay in prison and wa4te his ,affects
there. More persons were centanted to pris.as at
their own choice, then. by compulsion. That wasl
the reason why our jails were now fuller than ever.—
It was impossible to conceive that creditors in the
present state of the law, should be more rigorous
than formerly. He,woeld not dwell on the inefficacy
of the law, in so far as regarded conveyances of pro-
perty. The system was altogether such, as must is 4ve
the effect of putting, into the mind of any person,
whether well principled or not, when he began to hail,
a desire not of retrieving himself by increased exer-
tions, or of stopphig short whilst any part of his,
property was left, but to put off the evil day as long
as he could, till ail his property was completely
wasted. No discretion was allowed as to who were
or whrr were not considered worthy of relief. It a
person fraudulently wasted his effects in risoe, that
person was to be subjected to a longer imprisonment;
but this fraudulent wasting was a matter which could
not be very easily defined.- There were also certain
cases in which prisoners could not be discharged, till
after five years imprisonm'uit, such as breach of nst,
embezzlement, obtaining coedit on false pretences.
Any other fraudulent deed subjected the person com-
mitting it to five years confinement ; but it had been
decided, that if the 'fraud did not approach to a fe-
lony, a discharge could not be refused. Nine-tenths
of the persons who made use of fraudulent means
escaped. There was a class of judgments arising ex
eklisto and not es emeeracies. A man might be reduced
to poverty by the unwarrantable proceedings of ano-
ther, and yet be unable to obtain any redress from
him. XVith the exception of criminal conversation
and malicious prosecutions. all those classes of wrongs
which ranked under the title he had just mentioned,
might be said to be exoner.,ted. A man might conic
on another's property tif:y times over; and though
the dodge might certify that the trespass:4 were wil-
ful, the ecrsin offenzli,q; was eati:led to his release at
the end of three months, whatever mie,ht be the de-
gree of injury sose!ieed by the suffering person. A
man might retain the property of another—lre might
defend himself arainst an ejectment—he might keep
another out of his property two or three )ears, and
yet obtain a yellase at the end of three months. In
point of fact, there was no law existing to compel
the performance of .covenant,,or affording redress
for wrongs. The wholesome and unrelenting sere.
city of our laws, with regard to imprisonment for
debt, bad operated in a must beneficial manner. This
security had.been broken through by crecasional In-
solvent Acts; but there was this difference between

them and a standing Insolvent Act, that at pres.xit
every man knew the worst, whereas no man couli
tell under the other whether he would he included in
any Act or not—he miibt not have owed beyond a
certain sum, and be must have been imprisoned a,
certain time before. In refutation of the opinion of
Mi. Burke, that there was no connection between the
Counting House and the Jaif, he would appear to
the numerous Petitions on the table from most of the

trading towns in the country. What was the remedy
he proposed l He should propose, that at present
the Commissioners of Insolvent Courts be prevented
iron receiving any more petitions from insolvent
Deb mi. He thought it better to get rid of the pre-
sent law than to suffer the present system of disho-
nesty to be pursued with impunity. The measure
which it might ultimately bc proper to adopt was J
measure for future discussion. Various plans had
been proposed for the purpose of discriminating be-
tween those to whom the indulgence of the law
should be extended. One that had been proposed
was to diminish the term after which Insolvent Deb-
tors should be discharged according. to the amount
of poundage which they might pay on their debts.—
But this was liable to objection, because debts might
have been contracted with very honest intentions, on
which the debtors were able to pay but a small
poundage. His opinion was, there should be some
broad principle laid down in the law, and in acting
on this principle a large discretion should be allowed
to the Judges. He said " Judges," because he
thought the discretion should not be left to a single
Judge, high
.as the character of the Learned Judge
was who now administered the affairs of the Insol.
vent Court. The principle which should be e%ta.
Wished in the law was, that the discharge of the pri.
soner should depend on his having acted justly to.
wards his creditors, and a bench of Judges would be
the best persons to give their opinims as to the prin.
ciple, and determine the best means of carrying it
into effect. In the menu time, the measure which
he had to propose was, to suspend. the operations'of
the Commissioners appointed under the Act, by re-
straining them from receiving any more Petitions
from Insolvent Debtors, and. thus pot an end to the
system of falsehood, perjury, embezzlement, and in-
justice, which was now carried Ot: If he was asked
why he brought forward this measure at a time when
so much public business was before the House, he
should answer, that the operation of the Insolvent
Act aggravated the public evils, :yid tended to shut
up the hearts and phrses of these who bad it in their
posier to lend. He concluded by moving for leave
to bring in a Bill to suspend the power of the Com-
missioners appointed under/the Insolvent Debtors'
Act, from receiving Petitions • fur the discharge of
Insolvent Debtors.
Sir SAMUEL. ROMILLY said he did not object
to the motion because it would draw the attention of
the House to tho Insolvent Debtors' Act, and the
manner in which it had b.en eiecuted. lie had no
doubt that such abuses and treads bad bean com-
mitted that the bites position of the Lt.:•lsiature was
loudly called for. At the same tinge lie thought it
would be highly improper to precipitate :lie repeal of
the Act without inquiring into the reaftvines l r the
evil complained of, or availing themselves of this in.
formatioli to •whikh .the. House -might nuw • have
access, foe the purpose of bringing in the Measure tki