Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1847-12-24
Collection Eayvs.--Their injustice.


The only question is how are tile demands
of justice best subscrged'
What justice asks is simply the payment
Of the amount Of any Indebtedness contract
Ell, with reasonable damages. such as it may
be apparent the creditor has suffered from
delay.
The law of Imprisonment for debt GER
tainly answered not this demand. By de-
Iprivlng The debtor Of his pa-sonaI liberty. he
was OF course deprived, so far as the matter
depended upon the labor of his hands, Of all
ability 10 pay. About the only result at.
taiued, was the qualification OF an unworthy
feeling of revenge on the part of the creditor,
while equally unworthy feelings were en-
gendered in the mind of the debtor--the
debt, in great majority of instances, fore
yer remaining unpaid. Instead. then, Of
principle of justice being subserved, the ma
llgnant passions of our nature were, alone,
fed and strengthened.
Laws providing for summary process
against al the property Of the debtor go be-
yond the requirements of justice; for here,
IN great majority of cases, you compel him
10 pay, in The forced sale and conhscaton Of
his effects, far more than the amount Of the
demand against him-to say nothing of the
desttution and suffering you may be crea-
ting. as regards the debtor and those who
are dependent upon him.
Laws which may be promotive of delay
in legal proceedings against the property Of
a debtor, are lraught with injustice OH the
other sides and rarely result in any thing
but pecuniary injury to all parties. except
lawyers and judicial officers.
/ Exemption laws, although, confessedIy,
founded on principle of mercy alone, do
not so much interfere with the proper dcyel-
opement and action of the principle of jus,
tice, as laws Of the character first stated.
The main objection 10 them is, that BY re-
leasing men, Iii certain cases only, from L.
gal liability 10 pay their debts, they are,
under the operation Of the law, made for
getfu of their responsibility in higher and
more important sense. You weaken in
their minds generally the force Of the moral
obligation which exists.
And here, so far as the principle under
consideration is concerned, we find the lead
ing objection TO all collection laws, of what
ever character, or however framed. They
cannot be made to subserye the ends of JUS
tice. Human ingenuity and wisdom have
been and may he tasked in vain 10 accom-
plish dis. The result of all efforts of this
character has been but to introduce a iegaI
standard OF acton for men, which must, in
the nature of things. be lower and less opo-
ratiye than the moral standard which would
otherwise, Of necessity, be erected. The
controlling sentiment, under the existing or
der of things, is that responsibility extends
no farther than the law. 1.-THE payment of
any liability may be evaded without coming
in direct conflict with statutory provisions.
no matter how much fraud is perpetrated,
the individual, so acting, is rather commend
Cd for his shrewdncss a6d cunning. than re.
bukod for his dishonesty, and by his sue
ccssiui knaycrv elevated rather than lower
cd in general public estimation. And it.
through the medium of a bankrupt law. 4
debtor discharges his legal obligations, he I
is perfectly satisfied, aud the community. /.
too, that his responsibility in the premises
is at an end; and should he never pay his +
debts, however abundant his means, he IS /.
held to 70 accountability, and may even pass /
for an honest and honorable man!
All this is a very natural result of the sys-
lem by which the dealings of men with each |
other arc attempted to be regulated. and ex- |
hibits the insecurity and rouenness, in
moral point of view, Of the foundation upon I
which credit is made to rest. A sentiment /
Of justice, it is quite apparent, has no exist
ence, as a general thing, in such state Of
affairs. 1t is entirely subverted-and sub /
verted, too, by that very system of law, the |
necessity of which is mainly contonded for
on ground ofjustice.
Do away your laws relating to debts
and neutrality-suspicious. away your legal
standards Of right and wrong in regard to
matters Of pecuniary deal and obligation;-
let integrity of character be the sole basis of ,
credlt-and YOU will soon find moral SEN
timent and discrimination sPringing up in
community, the increasing strength Of
which, through its cultivation, will furnish
a better security for the honest and faithful /
discharge of mutual obligations, and for safe !
~ in business transactions, than any legal /
system Of coercion or regulation that human
wisdom can devise: 4 sentiment that will .
excuse no violations of the principle of JUS
tice, and will forever hold a man RESPONSE
bic, according to his means, for the payment