Western courier. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-10-26


by one, on the evidences Of English histo-
ry, of English statute law.and of English
judicial decision say English, for al
though the Senator did not mention Eng
land, yet he could mean nothing else.
lie must mean the English examples, and
the English practice, or nothing; and he
is not a person to speak, and mean moth
ing. ~
Protesting against this voyage across
the high seas, /, nevertheless, will make
it, and will ask the Senator on what act,
out of the scores which Parliament has
passed upon this subject, or on what pe-
riod, GU. of the FIVE hundred years that
she has been legislating upon it, will he
fix for his example? or, whether he will
choose 10 view the whole togethera and
out of the vast chaotic and heterogeneous
mass, extract general power which
Parliament possesses, and which he pro,
poses for our examplea For myself,
am agreed TO consider the question under
the whcle, or under either Of these as
poets, and, relying on the goodness of the
cause, expect safe deliverance from the
contest, take it in any way.
And first, as 10 the acts passed upon
this subject; great is their number, and
most dissimiar their provisions. For the
first two hundred years these acts applied
to none but aliens, and single class Of
aliens, and only for single act, that o.
flying the realm t1 avoid their creditors.
Then they were made 10 apply to all debt
ors, whether natives or foreigners, enga.
! gcd in trade or not, and took effect for
three acts: lst. Flying the realm; 3D.
Keeping the house to avoid creditors; Sd.
taking sanctuary in the church TO avoid
arrest. For upwards Of two hundred
years-to be precise, for two hundred and
twenty years-bankruptcy was only
treated criminal'v, and directed against
those who would not face their creditors,
or abide the laws OF the land; and the re-
medies against them were not civil, but
criminal; il was not distribution of the
effects, but corporal punishment, to wit:
Imprisonment and outawry." The stat
ute of Elizabeth was the first that confin-
ed the law TO merchants and traders, took
in the unfortunate as well as the criminal,
extended the acts OF bankruptcy to inabil-
ity, as we'll as to disinclination to pay,
Disseminated between innocent and frau
dulent bankruptcy, and gave to creditors
the remedial right to distribution OF ell
rects. This statute opened the door to
judicial construction, and the judges went
to work to define by decisions. who were
traders and what acts constituted the
fact, or showed an intent, TO delay or TO
defraud creditors. In making these de-
cisions, the Judges reached high enough
to get hold Of royal companies, and low
enough to get hold Of shoemakers, the
latter upon the ground that they bought
the leather out Of which they made the
shoes, and they even had a most learned
consultation to decide whether man who
was landlord for dogs, and bought dead
horses for his four legged boarders. and
then sold the skins and bones OF the
horse carcases he had bought, was not a
trader within the meaning Of the act, and
so subject to the statute of bankrupts.-
These decisions of the judges set The Par
Lament to work again TO preclude judicial
constructions by the precisions, negative.
I ~ andaflSmaiively of Legislative enact.
nent. But, worse and worse! tOut OF
the frying pan into the fire. The more
legislation the more constructions; the
more statutes Parliament made, the more
nunlcrous and the more various the judi
cial decisions; until, besides merchants
and traders, near forty other descriptions
of persons were included, and the cata-
logue of bankruptcy acts, innocent or
fraudulent, is s~-elled to a length which
requires whole pages to contain 1t. A
mong those who are now included by stat
utory enactment in England, leaving out
the great classes comprehended under the
names of merchants and traders, are bank
ers, brokers', factors, and scriveners; ln-
surers against perils by sea and land;-
warehousemen, wharfngers, packers
builders, carpenters, shipwrights and vict-
ualIers; keepers of inns, hotels, tayerns
and cofeerhouses; Overs, printers, bleach
ers, fuers. calenderers, sellers OF cattle
or sheep; commission merchants and con-
signees; and the agents Of all these clas-
ses. These are the affirmative definitions
Of the classes liable 10 bankruptcy in
England; then come the negative; and a.
mong these are farmers, graziers, and
common laborers for hire, the receivers
general of the kings taxes, and members
sPream5lc to The act Of 34th Of HENRY
VIII.
"Whereas, divers and sundry persons
craftily obtained into their hands great