The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-07-28 00:00:00

110111: :and he should be glad-to know from the noble lord the
grounds 'upon which he had objected to the Ooduetion of this
document when it was before applied for ?
.Lord J. Ress'au. was understood to say, that at the time the
right hon. gentleman had moved for the 'document, it had not
then reached him (Lord J. Russell.), rlt-had,since come to him
in regular course from, the commissioners, and' he had therefore
uo objection'to its production.
The motion was then agreed to.
• CAIPEISONMENT-FOE DEBT Btu..
The ATTORNEY-GXNEItAI, moved the reading of the order of
the' ibiy fur the further consideration of the report of this bill:
Mr. LA w moved that the consideration of this report be ad-
journed till Monday next. .
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL.--Why? I hope that my hon.
and learned friend will not oppose this motion, seeing that I
gave notice at a very early period of this session that I intended
to proceed with this measure. There are hundreds and thou-
sands of persons looking with anxiety to the passing of this bill,
and suffering that sickness of heart which always rises from
hope deferred. • .
Mr. Lew said, that his reason for moving the postponement
of the discussion of this bill was, that many of those members
who were most anxious to deliver their sentiments upon it were
not present at that moment. . .
Lord J. RUSSELL reminded the lion. and learned gentleman,
'that his noble friend (Lord Morpeth) had fixed the committee
on the Irish church hill for Monday next. There would, there-
fore, be no time for taking the discussion, of this bill afterwards
on that night. lie hoped that this opposition would not be per-
sisted in.
The gallery was then cleared, and the house divided—
For Mr. Law's amendment
Against it.

56

Majority 42
The order of the day was then read.
On the Attorney-General moving that the Speaker do now
leave the chair,
Mr. liiiestiFieto objected to the motion, because he did not
approve the principle of the bill; and because it was too late in
the session, even if he did approve of it, to
,examine and com-
plete its details. Ile Was afraid that this measure had been ad-
vocated, and would be carried, not on its own merits, but be-
cause it was a governmeut measure, though not of a party cha-
racter. He' object&l+6 the bill, on the ground that it went-
much further than the report of the common 'law commission-
ers, which did not propose to do away with the power of arrest
in all cases, but to prevent its wanton and- capricious exeicise.
The bill also provided, that Where the power of arrest should be
exercised, the debtor was at liberty to bring an action for false
imprisonment, in which the onus of proving fraud, or au in-
teutionAo withdraw from, England or Wales, on the part of
the debtor, was entirety 'thrown upon the creditor, instead of
the debtor being required to show that the arrest was a mali-
cious one. He pressed upon the attention of the house that one
of file points must strongly dwelt on by the law commissioners
was the necessity of providing effectually, in any neW measure
relative to the law affecting debtors, against the commission of
fraud; and he asked whether any honourable member would
venture to take upon himself to say that undue preferences
would not be secured by the present bill. For all the reasons
be had stated, it was certainly his intention to Dispose the bill.
Mr. B AWES submitted to the hon. member whether, as he
had no chance of carrying his motion by dividing the house, it
would not be better to let the bill go into committee now, and
afterwards take the opportunity of discussiOg the principle of
the measure on the third reading.
Mr. Melia aDS desired, before the bill passed, that evidence
might be taken with respect to its details. If the object of the
.bill was merely to provide heavy penalties for the commission of
abuses under the existing law, he should be prepared to give it
his support; but he did not think that the existence of some
abuses afforded a sufficient reason for overturning a whole sys-
tem. What was the course of human nature? (Here some
symptoms of impatience were manifested.) He protested against
what he must call the indecent interruption—(loud cries of
"Order")—which he had just received from the lion. member
for Bridport. He would not submit to it. (" Order, order.")
He moved that the house adjourn. (Cries Of "Divide.")
Mr. Hums: was surprised that the hon. gentleman, who had
been long a member of that house, should feel so much offended
at the expression which had fallen from the lion. member for
Bridport, indicating his anxiety to proceed with the bill in com-
mittee, (Hear, hear.)
•
Mr. RICHA RDS admitted that he had been perhaps a little too
hasty. ( hear, bear.) The hon. member then proceeded to
discuss the provisions of the bill. He said that no proof had
been given that the repeat of the existing law would be attended
with advantage and one of his great objections to the present
bill was, that-by one of its clauses, in a. disputed affair, the
whole me/its of the question would be tried by .a judge in cbani-
hers, by meaus of affidavits, and without the intervention of a
jury. -4. e also thoug,ht the provision which required the de-
fendant to give security for the debt and costs before an action •
was brought was very unjust, and its operation in the case of a
poor man would be peculiarly harsh. It was absolutely im-
possible, that under the provisions of the bill, a discovery of
debtors' property could take place, and, looking at the whole
ineasuredie was convinced that it would afford great encourage-
ment to fraud.

The ATTOBNEY7GENEIZAL said, that without meaning the
slightest disrespect to the hon. members who had preceded hint,
he must decline making any observations upon what had fallen
from them. In the' committee he would be piepared to meet
any Objections which they might make to particular clauses,
but he ,despaired of convincing thein 'of the policy of the
measure. . .

After a short further discussion the house went into committee
on the bill. The clauses of the bill were read and agreed to,
and ordered to be reported on Monddy (yesterda).)
Adjourned.