Massachusetts spy and Worcester advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1823-1825, 1825-02-02
GDorrfGter:
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1872
1For the Massachusetts Spu.1
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.-No.

l.
creditors and debtors, and that the popular
party were on the side of the debtor. The
prejudces of the debtors and their adherents
operated againt the exactioh of paym Mt
Their influence was employed in reducing
the interest OF money, (not in recommending
industry and economy in having interest a
, polished, and in having It detested, under the
| inFidious appellation Of a1sury. They even
strove, on occasions, to abolish deb.S. The
Decemvirsl, or law Of the twelve tables, I" de
impe d. bitcre in partes d5ssecando," gave
the creditor power not only to dnaqrason but to
aetip and eq,slaUe his debtor, and even the lib
erty and life Of his fellow-citizen lay at his
; mercy. Bankruptcy was treated as a crime,
and without any distinction Of fraud or mis-
fortune, exposed The irsolvent debtor to the
mercy of his creditors, who might put him to
death, disseCt, Or quarter him, and distribute
his members among them. But under laws
so barbarous and so abhorrent TO our feelings,
il is affirmed, no creditor ever took the full
benefit OF this law against his insoivent debt
or Among the Romans, as in our own Re-
public, there were ambitious and designing
men, sticklers for equality and unrestraiped
liberty, who captivated the ears Of the poor
with the most popular of all propositions, an
equal diUisiOn Of The land property, k1,oWn By
the name Of the Agrariao lac.
If the law of the twelve tables were now in
force and occasionally carried into effect, well
might ordinary debtors complain of the lati-
tude and severity of punishment. +! know
that some, while they read the Novel or Ro-
nance are liberal Of tears over fictitious dis
tress, who manifest no compassion for real and
uiSible misfortune and no doubt there are
some mistaken, and some designing persons,
who can read with indifference the obnoxious
and pitiable state of the Roman debtors sun
der the most sanguinary and arbitrary laws,
and yet affect to be melted down at the
thought of one of our debtors going to goal
voluntarily and unnecessarily, for debt of six
or eight dollars, which he might have earned
and paid by week or ten days labor al
home, but would not be persuaded to do it,
or some lover of justice persuaded him not to
do it, and so he has gone to prison, obtained
the liberty of the yard, lives better than ever
he did, passes thirty days in idleness, swears
out, defes the creditor, and ends the concern,
and all this is done under the most nlild and
benignant laws, and to deprive forever gen
erouS creditor of a most merttOriouS debt e! -
To the honor of Massachusetts, be it said, we
nave no laws written in blood, or executed in
cruelty. Sentiments of kindness and human
ity towards poor debtors are the prominent
characteristics of the creditors of this State
Instead of there being cause for complaint, or
it being for the permanent interest OF the
debtor, that the existing laws of imprisonment
should be abolished, the reverse is emphati-
cally true.
We are told that formerly men trusted one
another no further than they had visible chat
tells to answer the debt. This was in their
rude and warlike state. When trade and
commerce began to flourish, it was thought
reasonable to give creditors all possible secu-
uty III their contracts and dealings; and, IN
order to do that, the whole effects of the debt
or, whether in lands or chattels, and his per-
son too were made liable to satisfy the claims
of the creditors; and as they grew more and
more a trading people, it was deemed right
that the person should be liable, that a close
confinement might oblige him the sooner to
satisfy his creditors, as also make him the
more wary how he contracted debts, without
the prospect of a competent fund or provision
to discharge them. This was so long ago as
the 18th century. In 1641 and 1647 we find
the law to be, '' that no mans person shall be
arrested or imprisoned for any debt or fine, if
the law can find any competent means OF sat-
isfaction, otherwise from his estate, Except
in special contracts, as IL the law of pay
ments,) and if not, his person may be arrested
and imprisoned, where he shall be kept at his
own charge, and not the plaintiffs, till salts
faction be made, unless the Court that hac
f cognizancc of the cause, or some superior
1 Court. shall otherwise determine provided
? nevertheless, that no mans sperson shall be
| kept in prison for debt, but where there is an
j, appearance of some estate which he will not
! produce, to which end, any Court or Commits
8ioners authorized by the General Court may
administer an oath TO the party, or any other
suspected to be privy in concealing his estate,
but shall satisfy by service, if the creditor re-
quire it but shall not be sold to any but Of the
English nation !!n
By the statute of 1885 convenient apart
ments for receiving and lodging prisoners for
debt, separate and distinct from feions and
criminals, were provided, and they were al
lowed to have chamber and lodgings in any
of the houses or apartments belonging to such
: prisons, and liberty of the yard within the
: same in the daytime. By the statute of 1887
further provisions were made in favor Of the
: debtor, and for his liberation after confne-
ment of thirty days. In 1889, a law was pas
sed permitting debtors to swear out when COM
mtted on confessions before Justices Of the
Peace, and in 1891 when committed for taxes
lin 1916 the principal Act in favor of poor
debtors was revised, and further amelora-
l ton allowed them. By the statute of Febru-
airy, 1920, the creditors rights are abridged, and
the liabilities of towns and the State fixed on
him. 1t is enacted, "that every Town and
District, which shall be liable for and shall
have paid any of the charges Of maintaining
in close prison any person as pauper, here
after committed on mesne process or execu'
ton, in any civil action, may recover the same
in an action at law against the creditor at
whose suit such debtor shall have been COM
mittcd, and for the time he shall continue so
+ imprisoned at the suit Of such creditor, at the
rate OF one dollar and twenty-five cents for
the support of such debtor per week, and such
creditor shall also be liable to the Common
wealth; :" and by the statute of the 10th June,
1921, every town, district, and the Common-