The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-04-04 00:00:00

(FROM MALIMIN'S LuNDON MAGAZINE.)

In the civil law of Scotland, there is much worthy of
imitation, and in no branch wore than in the relation
between debtor and rryttitur. It would greatly exceed
nor present pitoemir to detail every article of difference
between the laws of the two countries upon this point;
but to prove that there are evils in the English which
are guile unknown to the Scottish code, ne nerd only
refer to tie notorious " evidence" taken before the Cum-

miner of rh.• iloti‘r of l'o 11111 l ons, on the projer.t..l In-
solvent Debtors' Hill. That copion• ilerament details a
system of altosr of late—for we will not insult legisla-
torial wisdom, hr calling it a system of law—which no-
thing hut a 1111 l st dangerous weakness in that law itself
could have etcr allowol toleetrh to the flagrant extent

there exhibited. It further shows, that by the Scottish
system (which in the end will be simile the rule of Eng-
livid) these evils cannot occur; and so happily ignorant
are the people of Scotland of both the causes or the ef-
fects of one of the most crying of the English abuses,
collusive arrests, that an end nent and enlightened Scotch
practitioner, when asked if collusive arrests were fre-
quent in Scotlaud, answered, "I do not lerstand that
question." This is a subject to which at a future time
we may teem; its magnitude requiring inure considera-
tion than call hr given to it as a part only of an article.
In the process for the recovery of a debt in England,
Our readers are aware that the debtor may be arrested,
lithe debt runt to 15/. by account, or to 111/. by bill,
upon the Vidneit of his creditor, who by this step re-
stricts his Wen to the person alone of his debtor. ltitb-
out stoppieg to question the policy of the prevailing sys-
tem of pr.•••ednre upon affidavit, wr may remark that, in
the instance of grounding an arrest of the person upon
it, the exes-iition in general defeats the purpose; for to
what does the arrestment lead ? In cases of tradesmen,
to loss of credit, and consequent premature bankruptcy.
In other cases, to a residence its the rules of the Fleet or
King's Bench, or to the equally advantageous alternative
of the benefit of the Insolvent Act. lit all cases, if the
debtor is inclined, to the disc fiture of the creditor,
and, in many, to his own heavy additional loss!—The
rock upon uhich the whole English practice, civil and
criminal, splits, seems to be a mi-taken principle of hu-
manity; and vet by I fatal oversight, common when the
dictates of the breast outrun those of the head, the very
end in view is utterly defeated ; fur what can savour less
of humanity than this absolute power in the creditor
over the personal liberty of his debtor; and what man
of character and sensibility will stand up fur the linguanity of a law which puts it in the power of a malignant
or a capricious trade-small, incurably to wound the feel-
ings, shatter the reputation, and destroy the credit of as
individual, by a sudden and unexpected arrest! —Whin
the evil is done, the law indeed iseipotree to istisislt
debtor to till defiance to his creditor, to saddle him with
heavy costs, and in the end to compel him, for his re-
venge, to treat his own creditors in the SAM' way ; and
thus the evil spreads, till it will ultimately cure itself by
substituting the lesser one of having no relief front law
for recovery of debt'. " They manage these things bet-
ter" in Scotland. There a rreditor inav attach both the
person and property of his debtor, but too upon his own
affidavit; and he cannot touch either the one or the
other, without first formally intimating his intention to
do so, unless the debt be paid within a given time. If
the debt is not justly due, or if the threatened proceed.
ings are evidently harsh and oppressive, the debtor may
suspend their exectit• ,by a summary application to
Court. If the charge has been wanton or unfounded,
the charger will be liable in all costs, and the party
charged cannot have been injured in reputation or credit,
by the exposure which an arrest or an execution, even
though unjust, always occasions. lint let us follow the
insolvent debtor in Scotland to prison (though even after
the expiring of the time limited, lie may take refuge from
arrest in the sanctuary);—within one month after his
imprisonment, lie way call his creditors, in a process for
his liberation, and upon showing, to the satisfaction of
the Court of Session, that his inrolvency has arisen from
misfortunes and losses, and that lie is a fair anti hottest
bankrupt, he will he set at liberty upon granting an as-
signment of all his property TO his creditors, and swear-
ing that he has not, either before or since his imprison-
ment, disposed of any part of it to their prejudice.
If from circumstances this process is tedious, or vaca-
tions intervene, the debtor may have leave logo at large
for a whole vacation by comtent of the majority of his
creditors ; nay, he is entitled to claim liberation upon
producing a physician's certificate that Isis health is suf-
fering by confinement. From this assignment of his
property are excepted those thintrs which are absolutely
necessary to his subsistence, such as workman's tools,
part of a current salary, wages. stipends, and the like.—
Surely there is in al this no want of humanity. let us
now inquire if there be any room for defrauding sir tie-
lying of creditors, as we have shown there is in England.
I. Lest the debtor should take measures to leave the
country when lie receives a charge for debt, the law,
upon die creditor making oath, and stating satisfactory
reasons of his belief that such is his debtor's intention,
will enable him to secure his person till he find surety
that he will not abscond without paying; hut to pre-
vent vexatious applications for this warrant, the creditor
is made liable to severe damages if his brief should
turn out to he unfotinderi, and even the Judge is amen-
' altle to be sued if he has proceeded hastily.-2. 'flue power
tif attaching and selling property, intakes the
the person rarely of touch avail towards satisfaction of a
debt in Scotland. This power of attachment extends to
real and personal property, to goods in the hands of
others, to debts due to the debtor, and to debts about to
become due, though not yet payable.-3. A creditor may
even bar his debtor from contracting a new debt, us
making away, by sale or otherwise, with any part of his
property, to Ids (the creditor's) prejudice. In short, the
entire property of the debtor may be locked up till the
creditor is secured ;—but here the law again interposes
to prevent oppressive attuhments, fur if there is evident
bonarfider on the part of the debtor, these proceedings
do him no injury ; hr has only to satisfy the Court that
they are unnecessary and improper, and they will be
removed ;—or, should he fail in doing this, he may find
security, which will eqnally well answer the pm-poses of
their removal.—t. At the examination of an insolvent
debtor's affairs, every creditor has a right to sift to the
bottom his whole transactions; and if he succeeds in sa-
tisfying the Court that they are not all strictly fair, the
debtor will get his liberation.-5. The debtor's future
property is liable to the creditor*, and, contrary to the
English law, which also admits this rule, but omits to
declare bow it can be acted upon, the future prorcry :s

easily made available: we confess that we cannot ima-
gine the existence of a doubt upon which side the pre-
ference, as to this branch of the laws of the two coun-
tries, is to be given.
In regard to the possession of, and power over pro•
perty, there are also some material distinctions between
the laws of the two nations. In England, a man has
the power of depriving his widow and children of any
share in his personal estate after his death ; in Scot-
land, the rights of the widow and children to a share
of personal estate cannot he taken from them, with-
out their consent, express or implied. In England,
there is a right of representation in the distri-
bution of the personal estate of intestates; that
is, the representatives of a deceased child, have a
right to that child's share of his parent's personal
estate, which is not the case in Scotland; though in
toosfetlx. the distribution of intestate property is'
mutt the same. But when, in England, real airl per-
sonalproperty are left *indisposed of, the eldest sun, or
heir-at-law, is entitled to the whole real, and to his sitar.-
'of the personal property. In Scotland, the heir-at-law
has no right to share the personal property, (though be
may claim some articles of furnit Are) unless he gives op,
Of as it is termed, collates, the real property with the
personal, and shares the whole with the remaining next
of kin.

In matters of real property there are also considerable 1
distinctions. In England, it ins ariahly descends, where
there are descendants lineal or collateral. In Scotland
real property, acquired by one of three brothers, by gift
or purchase, goes to the elder and his heirs, in preference
to the younger, who succeeds to property only to whirl,
his brother had succeeded as an heir. A proprietor of
an estate in England can dispose of it by will, but ran-
not devise freehold property of which he is not at the
titre actually in po ion. A proprietor of aSI °Wish
estate cannot bequeath it; be must dispose of it during
his life, reserving his life-rent; and this disposition may
include estates of which he may happen to be possessed
at the time of Isis death.

We are not prepared to question the respective merits
of these various rules of law, as applied to the state of
society in either country; hut we r4tittiit avoid remark-
ing, that the inconveniences which roust arise to the na-
tives of the one country pu. ing property in the other,
do appear to us to respire consideratioa, in the view of
being either prevented, or made apparent that they may
be guarded against. For example, a mortgagee in
England, over Scottish property, will Ise staggered, as
was remarked by the highest English law authority in
the country, when be finds that he can .... t iiispose of his
'mortgage by will, that species of property, although
palpably a slim of money out at interest. Lein;; strictly
reel by the law of Scotland : and a siteccssor,
adminia-
tering to the Effects of a deceased relative possessed of
Seottssli property, will be surprised to tind that by such
administration he has subjected himself to the danger
payment of all the debts of his ances.or, whether he
has reco%ereil sufficient assets or not ; for to this extent,'
we believe, the law of the pseeire titi'e in Scotland may,
is caftan circumstances, be stretched.
;-
,I)ujaif of Scotlapil reganlim matriage is one of its
imost iking peculiarities. We cannot in this respect
say that there is any defect or imperfection in the ng-
ksb but, at the same time, we are far f joining
in the riprobation a Melt is so lavishly bestowed by un-
alit king people upon the Is of SEW land. Ilnr impii.
pica lead us to view this law as deserving of a very
ferent opinion front that which the uninformed in all
countries are apt to hold of it ; and we are almost con-
vinces!, that, so far from reprobating it, the must partial
Englishmen would, if thoroughly made aequainteil pith
all its rules and beatings, join us in its open commen•
dation. is not the place to state these rules and
hearings, totln justice to which world require a separate
treatise, but we shall he permitted to quote the words of
an eloquNit and distinguished member of the Scottish
bar, in confirmation of what we have not hesitated to
declare to be our opinion upon this law :—" These deci-
woos,- says he, speaking to the Court of Session, "as
well as others of a similar description, are valuable in
another point of view, by serving to correct an erroneons
impression, which appears at one timeto have prevailed,
not indeed among lawyers, but among many of those who
venture to speculate upon law, that per-ens might he
unexpectedly and ignorantly trevamied into the married
state, without any serious intention or any deliberate
act of cousent : that, by sonic idle or frivolous action,
11y a few jocular words, or by a writing obtained, and
intended to accomplish some very ilitiorent !burp a-, a
thoughtless and unsuspecting intlividnal might he in-
sensibly trans ttttt ted into a hushand or a wife. All such
imaginations derived from the false supposition that
there were in our law certain forms and modes, whirls
operate as a sort of magic spell, independently of all
meaning or intention in those who happened to use
them, the devising-di of your Lordships have served to
destroy; and with this error has been effaced a great
deal of that ignorant prejudice which has sometimes
held out this branch of the law of Scotland to the scorn
of strangers, as a system of barbarism and injostice."
The paper from which this extract is taken is in behalf
of a woman married by consent only, nitl t further
form or ceremony than a declaration of that consent be-
fore witnesses, and without cohabitation, or eopa/a, after
its expression. The marriage was sustaiued in the high-
est Court In the land.
It ought to be observed, that these are but a few of the
most striking differences in the laws of the two king-
dome, and that they are here set down as they occurred,
without waiting to examine whether others that are omit-
ted ',eight not have been deemed snore worthy of notice.
In conclusion, while we revere the lair of England as
a body of written wisdom, founded upon )us i:e and
equality of right; while we regard it, and will maintain
it, as one of the grand bulwarks of our admirable Con-
stitution, we cannot shut our eyes to the imperfections
in its practice, and in some of its specific enactments;
which imperfections we are bound to say, eve have not
discovered to the same extent in the laws and practice of
I our Scottish brethren.
ir

DJXXER AT SUNDERLAND.
...-.0.--

It being expected that Mr. [Avulsion would address
the inhabotanta of Sunderland on Tuesday last, previous
to the dinner, fixed for that day, to celebrate the signal
victory achieved by the friends of liberty in the re-elec-
tion of that gentleman as one of the Representatives of
the county, an amazing concourse of persons met him
on his entrance into the town, and crew him, amidst re-
iterated cheers, the waving of hamikerchiefs and display
of colours, to the front of the Exchange. We may
truly affirm, that full 3-4tlis of the entire population of
the place were collected together, and all seemed
animated by one common feeling of proud exultation,
and an unanimous spirit of anise' entiousiamo. When
silence had been obtained among the va-t
air. iddrelsed them, flout • t. nlovrarl,

platform erected in front of the Exchange, to the
lowing effect :—He said, that, in addressing so large
assemblage, it would h,• impossible to make himse)
heard by any considerable portion, unless they
served the most profound silence. He said,
could not find words to express the feelings wl
he entertained at the glorious result of the late
test, which had preeminently placed him again in
prowl situation of their ttepresentative.—(Lirear
plause.)—lt was now proved that he spoke
sense of a vast majority of the freeholders of the coot
—(Applause.)—lt say persons felt disposed to dispii%
the fart, let them look to the numbers on the poll. There
were about 4,01111, or at the most 4,500 freeholders i

county, out of u hi. h 1731 bad actually voted for
and, on ritainining his canvass books, it was found .
could have depended on 1,493 more, who would have
given hint their votes hail they been necessary. These
two numbers put together made 3,214 votes—a majority
which, in proportion to the total number of freeholder►,
was unprecedented in any county. Let those w ith whom
the contest originated look at this—let them now say
whether lie or they spoke the sentiments of a " great
majority" of the freeholders: and especially when it
was observed, that out of the gross number of votes n bich
be hail polled, there were upwards of 900 plunipers; and,
had the contest been protracted to the end of the period
allowed by law, he could have polled as many as 2,1160
plumper:4. Let them look also at the vast multitude
around him, and then say whether he did not speak the
sense of the inhabitants of the county at large. 'lO
the freeholders of Sunderland and the two IVearinouths,

lie would say, that although in every part of the county
his reception hail been most gratifying, it had been no
where more so than among them: they had come for-
ward nobly in the contest—he bail found among them
many of his firmest and stoutest friends—and it nAs
there where he hail witnessed the first burst of that spit it
which had rapidly diffused itself throughout the county.
—(loud cheering.)—He then adverted to his past con-
duct in Parliament, which he trusted would be con-
sidered as a sufficient pledge for the future ; but, should
any thing rotors he required, he could only assure thou
that no effort should ever be wanting, on his part, to
maintain, by every constitutional means, their freedom
and inelepentlenee. The lion. Bentleman made a va-
riety of other observations, and entreated, on that occa-
sion (a proud one to their mutual cause) that no
lion of feeling might lead them from the straight for-
ward path of order and propriety—that the firmness of
their manner, when assembled, might only be equalled
by the order and p Me demeanour of their dispersion
—that no pretext might be given to their opponents to
say, that, meeting in the maintenance of their rights,
that exulting in the effort to regain those rights, they
were not the true friends of freedom, of peace, and of
order. The Honourable Member then retired amidst
the acclamations of the immense multitude.
At five o'clock a highly numerous and respect:Os
company sat down to dinner at the Bridge lion ; Ji
Lambton in the Chair.
'f he CHAIRMAN, on rising topropose
." The Intlepel-
dltnee of the county of Dot:ham7 prefaced it by obser -
ing, thud often as it bail been his fortune to address try
countrymen, he had never done so with snore satisla -
tier' than on an occasion when he looked round him ao
*MT so numerous and respectable a meeting, and svia--.t
lie reflected that they acre all equally engaged with him-
self in maintaining the pure exercise of the electi e
franchise. They hail many times heard of the cause . f
independence lining at:ached in this country; but nev. r
was a more disgraceful combination fumed against it
than that which had been just defeated.—cApplatise.t --
Those who hail witnessed the progress of the poll .tt
Durham were acquainted with some of the instance... 4
threats and imercom which haul been resorted to by their
opponents. The agent of an individual, holding one :if
the highest offices in the church, had threatened to at
down the trees upon an estate occupied by a tenant, un-
less he gave hie vote to the Ministerial candidate. lie
menace was found too powerful to be resisted, and the
person was compelled to vote for Mr. Wharton.—(Shane.,
shame.)—Such disgraceful prartices must fill every up-
right mind with sharer and indignation.
Mr. A. FE xwletc then gave the health of the ('hair
man, which was drank with three times three
Mr. L 011170,4, in rising to rt turn thanks, said he f• It
it almost itnpussibie to find words to express his settle
their kindness. lie could only assure them, that, to
latest hour of his existence, he would devote himself •••
their service.—(Applause.)—He was aware that it hel
been staied by use of his Reverend opponents. th,y
would never cease their efforts to eject him front the re-
presentation of the county until he n-as in a gaol.—
(Shaine, sliame.)—ile thought, however, they would is I I
it a difficult thing to client ; but should they accotsiplisii
their wish, he should have one objection at least—h:
should find so many of his adversaries there, o.lst tie
would nut be aide to reconcile himself to St/ much ha
company.—(Laughter and applause.)—Vet, even if they
succeeded, they would not effect their object, for the
would not then accept of a Nlember of their
nomination. But, wh-ther in or out of gaol, he should
err devote himself to the great and glorious and sacred,
cause of which they hail dune him the honour of placing
him at the heall.—(Applause.)—lie al Id always coo-
sitter it the highest honour he could attain to be placed
in the situation in whirls he then stood by the inde-
pendent voice of his countrymen. He would say, that
no money could procure for lino satisfartion eqnivalent
to syli:A he then felt ; cud were he so die that moment,
he should have lived long enough.—(Loud clieers.)-31r.
Lambton then alluded to the contest between Mr. Mono.-
ham and the Lou timers in Westmorland, and afterwar,.s
to an individual who had publicly advised Mr. Wharton
to abandon his design of canvassing Sunderland. This
gentleman, he stated, had, as he lied been informs.',
discharged two maid-servants for wearing lilac riblsous!
The cause of Reform, and success to Mr. Lattohtott's
intended motion.—(This was received wth bursts of ap-
plause and cheering, and drank with three times three.)
The following toasts were also drank with great up-
plallse:—
Sir Mietisew W. Miller, the seconder.
Mr. Taylor, and the IVhigs of Durham.
Mr. Beaumont, and the cause of Independence in the
county of Northumberland.
Mr. Ralph Lanibton.
The .agricultural interests of the ronoty of Durham.
The Lord Lieuteitant.
Toe Chairman of time Commissioners of the river
Wear. Mr. Robinson.
Mr. Wyvill and Mr. Sinaloa, and the indepentleut in-
terest in Vo.k.
Lord Milton, and the Wide of Yorkshire.
Captain Cochrane and Ow :easy.
The Marquis of Tavistock and Mr. Perri, the %wee's.
fnl assertors of the independence of Its-dfordshire.
Mr. L.uubtunleft the Co Al r efmn: ten *l'll. 1:4, sun at:
"VCDing was tt/11,:illtIt'd *i.t . 114.0 U i •

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PIINCS.
ge, to the fol- ..
ig so large an e
make himself
less they pre-
He said, he
?lisp which
the late con-
'again in tie
.—(Orrat ap-
he spoke the
of the county,
ted to dispute
lie poll. There
Pholders in the •
roted for him ;
was found be
o nould hay,