Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-04-10
FAIR DEALER.
Madison county, 3OM March.
FOR THE SPECTATOR.

FOR THE SPECTATOR.
"There was an ancient, sage philosopher,
"That had read Alexander Ross over"
To the me mberS ofthe legislature Qfthe
state Of Illinois, recently co7Uened in
general assembly at Yandaia.
GENrLEMEN-Whcn | compare GER
tain parts of your Legislative works, !
meet with great difficulty in understand
ing them. In one Of Paui's epls,lcs to
Timothy concerning the primitive chris
tians, he observed that by their works
they should be known. Now | find il
utterly impossible to know your intsn-
lions by your works; and if any OF you
can explain them to me, you will confer
singular benefit upon this part Of the
community.
Ga the 18th day of January last, you
passed a solemn act, suspen3ing all exc
cuions til after the Goth OF November
next. This suspension WAS accompa-
MED, however, with certain qnai!iiva
tons. In case the creditor swore he
verify believed he was in danger o! !oos-
ing his debt, there was to BE- no delay.
Now as the degree of danger is not
measured by the law, there is not a
creditor in the state who cannot maze
the requisite oath. Debtors, as well as
Others, are at all tines in d4ngcr of
tieath ak, such is The state Of property
with US, that death certainly ieepartizes
debt due from the deceased. w are
all in danger Of ioosing our property.
Riches, says the scripture, take to them
selves wings and fly away towards hea-
ven. As the law stands, the most cOu-.
scientlous creditor can safely lay bis hand
upon his heart and say, | verify believe
that | am in some danger Of loosng my
debt, if execution be delayed, six, eight
or ten months. / appeal to the bosom
Oft every man to whom money is owing in
the state Of Illinois.
There was also to be no delay unless
certain costs were paid. What 30 you
mean by the phrase, costs, which nay
have accrued on the judgement :" Did
You mean the COSTS incurred by OBTAIN
ing the Judge ment? Or did you intcnj
to tell us creditors that in those cases
where we had taken out execution pre-,
vious TO the passage of the law, ii should
not be delayed, unless the costs of SUING
it out were paid The latter should
adop, as your meaning, were it not that
a neighboring lawyer, ofsome legal acu
men, tells me, that by the established
rules of construction, the proviso, as it,
stands, qualities all the previous part of
the section.-l have, accordingly, given
my judgement debtors notice, (of whom
| have many,) that unless they pay the
costs ofthe respective judgements against
them within ten days, | shall take out
execution against them. As they diff
fer from me and my lawyer in the con
struction of the act alluded 20, there is no
probability of its being done: so shall
not be stopped by the STOP ia7v, but they
will be in ..confusion worse confound-
ed"
l ofTiciate as a justice ofthe peace in
certain part of the state, and have given
many judgements since the passage of
the stop law, as it is called, but have
never found that it stopped single exc
cution from being sworn out. In one
ms ance | ave judgement for a qua
ker, who felt some reluctance to making
the necessary oath, but when | explained
to him the law, and the great danger he
was in of dosing all his debts from the
acts of the Legislature themselves, iffrom
no other cause, he told me, it was not
only right, but his duty to swear out an
execution.
l was going on, as 1 thought, in the
lawful discharge of my official duties,
when my lawyer came to me the other
day, and informed me that was about
to be sued in an action of trespass for
issuing an execution against man, by
which his horse had been taken and sold
at his full value, to pay just debt. For
my justification, showed him the Judge
ment had given, and the affidavit made
by the plaintiff, He told me they were
no justification at all-that | had no au
thority Cor jurisdiction, as he called it)