The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-04-18
Bankrupt Laws.

to property. Every person felt that what
he had labored TO accumulate was sacred
ly his own, and infractions upon this in
tuitve right would naturally NEE; uni
versal condemnation. In agricultural
communities, such as the primevai COM
munities were where the riches of men
consisted in fiocks and herds and the
products Of the soil, the laws in relation
to property were few but as new pur-
suits were invented and followed, new
regulations were required. Many turn
led their attention altogether from agri-
culture, and lived by fabr icating articles
of popular use and consumption. These,
their productions exchanged for the ne
cessaries of life, aud thus grew into be-
ing barter and trade. Different countries
would produce different articles, and in
order TO exchange these, there was requi-
site class of men to make it their whole
business to carry on commerce and do
mesic trade. These were merchants.
Ii will at once be seen that the connec-
tons of this class would greatly differ
from those Of the agriculturists. Their
dealings would be more extensive and
more scattered. Their creditors would
be in different countries and in different
chimes. AS money came into use, and
gold and silver, as metals of intrinsic
value in themselves, independent of char
ters or legal enactments, was adopted
throughout the world as circulating
medium, bankers grew into being. Like
merchants, their dealings were extensive
and scattered, and their creditors also
numerous and diverse. The risks Of
commerce gave life to insurers, and these,
like the other two classes, had wide deal
ings and large liabilities. The business
of all these men was, and is, of pecu-
liar nature, such as to require guards and
projections not necessary to occupations
more confined in extent, and more easy
to come under popular cognizance.
The relation of debtor and creditor
must have been coeval with the forma-
ton of society, and if the minds Of all
men intuidvely acknowledged the sane
thy of property acquired by honest labor
and industry, the sanctity Of contracts
must have been no less SO. In agricul-
tural communities, as it respected them
selves, the creditor and debtor lived in
juxtaposition and exerted mutual in
! tiuence upon each other, which tended
to enforce the fulfillment of contracts
The property, too, crops, cattle, lands
and houses, could not easily be concealed
or transferred without its being known.
But merchants, bankers, and men who
lived by merchandise, had greater facil-
tiles for roguery, and their creditors
needed more protection against them
This gave rise to bankrupt lars, laws
which were confined to the classes have
entioned, and which at first were insti-
tuted for the benefit of the creditor.
We shall not 60 into speculations con
corning the origin Of the term bankrupt,
or spend space and time to enquire
whe ther it is derived from the Latin ban
Gus rufotus, from the French bancque route,
or wheth we should look to the Rialto
Of ST. Marks, or trace it 10 the Italian
words, Jo,sco rotko. Much learning has
been expended in this investigation, and
much eru9ition Law ished on all these the
cries by their different supporters-some-
times with as much heat as was display
i ed BY Monkbarns and Sir Arthur, in
TIE Antiquary, concerning the dialect of
the Pcts. The derivation Of the term is
not Of much consequence, as convention
al usage must determine its significancy
and meaning. Old Lord Coke regarded
the word as essentially alien, for he says,
1--WE have fetched as we'll the name as
the wickedness of bankruptcy from for
eign nations, Some say it should be de-
rived from JanQue and romque, as he that
hath broken his bank or state" Be this
con lecture as il may, the institution Of
bankrupt laws can clearly be traced to
that commercial, sea grit, and island city,
which was once empress Of the ocean.
whose Doges welded the sea, and whose
Ria Ito has been made familiar to all the
readers of Shakespeare. When Venice
carried her commerce far and near, when
her bankers were princes, and her mer-
chants mobiles, she sought to preserve the
community as much AS possible from
thcir avarice and dishonesty, by the es-
adjustment OF bankrupt laws. These
laws gave creditors power to seize the
estates OF debtors no were wasting their
property or aiming fraudulently to get
rid Of their debts.
When Eng land became commercial