The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-07-24
VOL. Y,

straint OF sale on execution was ren,ovoa
1905 it was provided shat lands vh;oh =,
seven years may yield yearly rents o. ~
beyond all reprides, sufficient 70 P'Un
interest and costs, shall not be sold but dsI;,".
to the creditor at the appraised ya,us min
claim shall be satisfied, in the sams 60
lands are delivered upon writs Of eleOit II r.
land" This law is now in force in Psnr.,,,.
In nearly all the States of the Union co.,.
iuctance and delay of execution are show
spect for title to landed estate. One vsrv
raj restriction of the creditors right Of O.
ton is-imposed by fOrbidding him to rssor, - =.
land Until the personal property, or so muob j
1T as is not exempt, shall be first exhausted a.,
found insufficient. la several Of the Statss :,
debtor may redeem his land within a var -,
the sale under execution, by refundipe the M,
chase money with interest. In some of them u
cannot be sold, unless it brings tvo.tbird. 90 :,
appraised value; and in all, except four or g.,
there are some checks upon the sweeping doc,
lation of an execution at law
The old Hebrew rule which declared that an
land shall not be sold forever seems 0ronrd. "a
on principle worthy of the authority which
Moses claimed for it. 1t allowed the owner 10
convey the possession, and sell the produce and
profits Of his land until the jubilee; but secured
to him the right to redeem it sooner If he became
able and willing His own and his family's prom
erty In the soil could not be absolutely alienej
Law and religion combined to give sacreduess 70
title, necessary at once to independence, happi.
ness, and life, This diyinely equitable policvI
checked the hungry Mammonism of speculation
and long preserved the nation from that destruc
tive inequality Of wealth which an unlimited
traffic in land inevitably produces
The system of entailed estates in England i,
very properly styled, by one of her writers. tn,
FAMILY Law; for it is at the core only an asser
ton of the family instinct This natural and no.
BILE sentiment was overlaid, indeed, by selfish
exclusiveness; but the principle has the warrant
of the best affections of the human heart, and
looks to the best interests of human society Tn.
happily, no limit was set by the law to the extent
of any mans acquisitions, and no provision was
made for the domiciliation Of all the families in
the realm. The Hebrew system, on the contra.
ry, by beginning ~ren an equitable appropriation
of the lands, and providing for the periodical res
tibaiipp of each parcel TO its former owner or nm,
legal representative, avoided the evils of entails
which, acting unequally and upon unlimited &C
QUESTIONS, tended only to aggravate the mischief
of land monopoly for the few, and land destitutOr
for the many.
The entails were broken up by legal juggl,
to indulge Edward the Fourth in the confscator
of the estates of the rival house of Lancaster at
tainted Of high treason. Blackstone calls the 6c
titious proceedings Of the courts by which th
was accomplished kind of piOns fraud, whereby
the positive legislation of the Kingdom was eva.
ded, for the benefit of Commerce This doctrine
Of the Judges, induced by the policy of trade
found expression in the pitby maxim, "the Law
abhors perpetuity,n and entails were by every de
vice of ingenuity abridged in their duration ant
deprived of their privileges, not to prevent mo
nopoly, but to open them to forfeiture and con
vert them into merchandise, for the purpose o
accommodating the tyrants and merchants o
England The monopoly of land was left open t
the conquests of wealth after it was thus wrestec
from that Of the sword, and the guardianship Of
natural affection and family pride
The National Reformers do well to guard their
policy Of exempting land from execution by lin
iting its operation to the Homestead, or that pOr
ton of land that may afford residence or reason
able family support. Their doctrine of freedom
of the public lands to actual settlers, and limita
ton Of the amount to be held by any one claim
ant, would effect the same general object but i
is yet long, perhaps, before the limitation schemt
can be enforced In the mean time the Homestead
exemption will establish itself universally, and in
troduce higher and nobler views of the system o
property than are yet accepted by the most en-
lightened nations of the earth.
There may be some difficulty in the smooth anC
even adaptation Of the principle in general prac
tice but every form and degree Of it will justify
itself in experience, and illustrate and vndicatt
the idea on which it rests. The uniform and ad
equate accomplishment of the policy will have the
effect of subtracting the market value of the land
from the commercial capital of the country, to
the extent Of Its operation but this cannot in any
degree diminish the actual wealth Of the commu-
nifty The land will yield its fruits as before
and the real money and conventional credit will
still perform their wonted functions; and they
have, besides, the power of adjusting themselves
in debt and exchange Personal property, whicl
in the earlier ages Of civilization was so inconsid
cradle that il could not answer for the basis o.
large exchanges, has grown now beyond all com
parison with that which was then called real AND
may answer all the demands of business, without
embarrassing its action or progress.
Moreover, the barbarism Of treating debt as
crime of one Of the parties to it, and Furnishing il
in him with loss of land and goods, and forfeiture
Of personal liberty, with all the consequent suffer
ings to his dependencies, is rapidly passing away
We observe, in fact, that abolition of imprsOn-
ment for debt and exemption Of the homestead 60
together wherever they are introduced. 1t is per-
ceived that the old seventies we're based upon no
principle Of trade, and could not promote any Of
its interests. The Imprisonment of the debtor
and the starvation of his wife and children are
felt to be more than justice to the creditor who
trusted property, and not character, and seVerer
punishment than misfortune can deserve. lie
strip man Of the means OF life and comiori, o.
home and shelter, for debt, is to confound m's'0r
tune with crime, and to punish civil injuries as Il
they were criminal offences.
The more pecuniary obligations are converter
into debts Of honor, and the more credit Is gwen
to the worth Of the man, rather than that Of DIS
estate, the more honorable commerce wiii oeo'"'
besides it Is easy for fraud to defeat the extreme
rigor of the law, and honor aud honesty are gen
orally the only sufferers by 1t. The public nS'
all the interest in this measure which It can ns''
in preventing pauperism and despair an' 'D'
.~;,,.s ,h.v eroerder and owes such amehoratOl