The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-08-20 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

have been released from the debt altogether ; whereas
now, like all other prisoners (a fact which may not be
generally known,) any goods now or which may at any
future time be in his possession, will be liable to the exe-
cution, which for such purposes will remain in full force.
The whole of the above prisoners were, after some con-
sultation between the commissioners and their legal ad-
viser, declared entitled to be discharged forthwith.
AN ARISTOCRATIC HORSE DEALER.—On Friday week
the application of Lord Huntingtower, for a final order,
came on for hearing, in the London Court of Bankruptcy.
His lordship appeared in the capacity of a dealer in horses.
According to his own statement, the total amount of debts
contracted since his bankruptcy, about two years ago, with
the exception of renewals, was £lBOO ; and the only as-
sistance he had received from his family or friends
amounted to £316, which came from his mother, Lady
Dysart. The amount of his liabilities, under the bank-
ruptcy, was £228,000, of which he renewed debts to the
amount of £46,000. During the examination it came out
that his lordship had been in the habit of putting his name
to bills for £2OOO, for which he very often got no more
than £4O or £5O. One of the opposing creditors was Mr.
Davies, a wholesale furrier, who had sold his lordship
what he called " miniature portraits of twelve Eastern ra-
jahs, or Indian chiefs," for £4OO. The furrier-artist re-
fusing to tell where he had got the pictures, or what he
had given for them, though told that they were not worth
twenty-two shillings a-piece, his opposition was dismissed.
His lordship stated that he had now no property to give
to his creditors; but he had considerable expectations.
The hearing was adjourned to the 20th of November.
NON-IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.—The act contains 75
sections, with a schedule annexed. There are three pro-
visions having reference to debts not exceeding £2O;
and it will be seen that considerable power is given to the
judges of any court at any time to order defendants into
custody on being of opinion that the debts had been im-
properly contracted. By the 57th section it is enacted,
that from and after the passing of this act (9th of Au-
gust), no person shall be taken or charged in execution
upon any judgement obtained in any of her Majesty's
tuperior courts, or in any county court, Court of Requests,
or other inferior court, in any action for the recovery of
any debt wherein the sum recovered shall not exceed the
sum of £2O, exclusive of the costs recovered by such
judgment. By the next clause, it is declared, that per-
sons in execution at the time of the passing this act,
where the debt shall not exceed £2O, exclusive of the
costs, shall be discharged on application to a judge, and
with a proviso, that if a discharge is fraudulently ob-
tained, a defendant may be retaken. The judgment ob-
tained to remain in force notwithstanding the discharge.
There is a connecting link between the 58th and the 59th
sections, by the latter beginning with "provided always,"
and under it power is given to any judge to commit to
prison under certain circumstances. Section 59
" Provided always, that if at any time it shall appear to the
judge who shall try such cause, being either a judge of one of
the superior courts or a barrister or attorney-at-law, that the
defendant in incurring the debt or liability which may be the
subject of demand has obtained credit from the plaintiff under
false pretences or with a fraudul"nt intent, or has wilfully con-
tracted such debt or liability without having at the same time
a reasonable assurance of being able to pay or discharge the
same, or shall have made or caused to be made any gift, delivery,
or transfer of any personal property, or shall have removed or
concealed the same with intent to defraud his Cr- ditors or any
of them, it shall he lawful for such judge, if he shall think fit,
to order that such defendant may be taken and detained in
execution upon such judgment in like mariner and for such
time as he might have been if this act had not been passed; or
for any time not exceeding six calendar months, in any case
in which the time for which a person taken in execution under
process issuing out of any such court could lawfully be de-
tained i❑ custody, according to the constitution of the said
court before the passing of this act, is less than six calendar
months, whether or not execution against the goods and chat-
tels of such defendant shall have issued as hereinafter provided."
Actions under £2O brought into the superior courts are
tried before the sheriffs, and the judges of the courts,
with those of courtsof requests, have power under thisact to
order the payment of debts by instalment, and may sus-
pend executions in cases of sickness or unavoidable ac-
cident. By the 72d section, the commissioners of the
Courts of requests can, with the approval of one of the
Secretaries of State, appoint a barrister or attorney to
preside as an assessor, to be paid by certain fees set forth
in the schedule annexed to the act.

IMPRISONMENT (OR, RATHER NON-IMPRISONMENT)
FOR DEBT ACT.

The London Times publishes several letters on the probable
working of the act just passed, the impolicy and injustice of which
the writers expose in a happy vein of satire—more cutting perhaps
than the gravest reprehension. One of them, who assumes the ap-
propriate cognomen of "Jeremy Diddler," returns thanks for the
benefits he has already received from the act in common with
others who, like himself; find it " inconvenient to pay their debts;"
and for the advantage of those who are, unhappily, situated like
himself, points out in what manner the act may be extended to
debts exceeding £2O. He says:—
" A rascal of a tailor, my sole creditor above that sum, called on
me and demanded instant payment of his debt, which was £2l 14s.
6d. • I go to my attorney, and he says, ' Let the fellow sue you,
and you can probably raise £2, which sum I will pay into
court, and as to the residue, plead what he calls the general issue,
i. e. that you do not owe more than the £2 paid into court. The
plaintiff will then recover only £l9 14s. 6d., and your person will
be safe.' As to my goods—l wish he may get them. The tailor
will thus be punished for his impertinence by paying the costs of
the suit, and I shall go scot free."
Another correspondent, signing :` Charity begins at home," ex-
presses his admiration of "Jeremy's" abilities, but deems that he
can eclipseithem in the same 1 ne. He says:—
"
I hold a situation of £3OO per annum. I have a cab (jobbed,
of course,) and a handsome house of furniture, for which I was in-
debted to some fifteen or twenty upholsterers, each under £2O. A
few months since I became slightly involved, as all young men of
any spirit are, and, among others, I was sued by an impudent
jeweller for £lB, the price of a paltry ring, on which the knave's
profit must have been at least £4. After running the rascal to all
ItStrlMASTecl722lll7liCaliatk gcrgirienr " Ire—SoZiresTs
at last he was safe; but mark my sagacity. Nearly the whole of
my goods immediately on their purchase were secured (the fashion-
able term) by a bill of sale given by me to a friend, on whose pro-
perty I hold a similar document, and the remainder were claimed
by my landlord, a gentleman always ready to assist his tenants in
this respect, provided they pay him for the accommodation a trifling
increase of annual rent. My villain of a creditor put me into
prison. There I was in an awkward predicament ; my salary
stopped by my unfeeling employers, and every prospect of a long
remand for a vexatious defence. Cards, dominoes, porter, and
tobacco, the common amusements of Whitecross-street, failed to
dissipate my apprehensions ; when the glorious act passed, and I
was emancipated at once. He goes on to say that a friend visited
him in prison, and, at his urgent request, and great inconvenience
to himself, lent him £2O, of which he had liberally paid him half-a-
crown—showing his desire to liquidate his debt; but his creditor,
notwithstanding, impudently threatened to sue him for the balance,
which, if he does, he will plead, first, that he never owed the money
(though the scamp holds his I. 0. U.); secondly, that he paid him
the half-crown; and, thirdly, infancy (though he was 35 last birth-
day.) Should his opponent get a verdict, what then? His friend
will again produce his bill of sale; his accommodating landlord
will claim a year's rent, though it has been regularly paid quarterly;
and as to his person, the new law protects it! My creditor," he
adds, " wants his money. So he does, I admit, and so does every
man like him, who is poor, with a wife and nine children; and I
wish he may get it (as Jeremy Diddler says) from everybody ex-
cept myself,"
A more serious con•espondent, signing "A Creditor," writes:—
" Previous to this act, if a party petitioned the Court of Bank-
ruptcy, who, from the mode in which he bad contracted his debts,
or other improper conduct, was not considered entitled to the bene-
fit afforded by that court, his petition was dismissed, and his pro-
tection could only be obtained from the Insolvent Court, who
has the power to remand a petitioner, according to his deserts, for
a period not exceeding three years. But, by the last act, if such a
party petition the Court of Bankruptcy, his case will be adjourned
sine die; yet, at the expiration of twelve months, he can apply to
the court again, when he is to receive his protection ; thus his im-
prisonlnent will be limited to one year, if he be in custody, but, if
he absent himself, he will avoid imprisonment altogether, ,nd, in
either case, avoid the stigma of e remand from the Insolvent Court
in terms denoting the nature of the offence he has committed.
Upon consideration of the reliefs, previously afforded to debtors
confined for small sums, by the society in Craven-street, by the
Small Debtors' Act, and the practice of the courts of requests of
committing for limited periods, according to the amounts of the
debts, it may be a question if the legislature be not relieving a few
cases of misfortune with a great many of improvidence and fraud."