The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-06-21

lose tbesr distibossss cSssactss iningls TO-
all considered, and treated, as the act terms
them as prisoners. And sir. IT seems they
are to leave the prison IN reversed order, or
rather the Door debtor is to remain behind,
such appears to be the effect of a proviso at
tached 80 this section f3recided, That in 4
cases where the prisoner is committed for
fine and costs, or in cases of bastardy as
aforesaid, notice shall be served on the Clerk
of the Court, by which he was committed,
unless the Court, in its discretion may allow
him to take the oath of insolvency and be
discharged without notice to the Clerk
In the case of the febtor the Court has no
discretion as to dispensing with the required
notice, and so he must stay in close custody
until the twenty days is expired before he is
allowed to come forward to take the oath OF
insolvency. When he does present himself
at last, for that purpose. he may be then met
by the the creditor with suggestion OF
fraudulent conceafinent, and by continuances
and appeals, both of which are provided for
by the ct, athe case may be protracted and
the imprisonment prolonged until the de-
fendant's constitution gives way and he dies
of duress. Such extreme cases are not COM
mon, but they do occur-and that they can
occur under the sanction of our laws is a re-
proach to our system of administration OF
Justice While this clause remained in our
Constitution authorizing imprisonment for
debt, perhaps this insolvent debtors act
was the best that an able commission to re-.
wise the laws with the ablest lawyer OF North
Carolina at its head could devise on the SUBJ
ject. Mere ordinary legislation cannot reach
the evil, it is too deep-rooted. The remedy
must be applied here, not in the Legislature;
now is the time, this is the place, and there
is the amendment which will effect cure.
Doubtless creditors are often defrauded !;
and certainly fraud, when it is discovered
ought to be punished-but it should be pros
ecuted just like other offenses against the
criminal code, and punished after 1t Is
proved, and not before. And, sir, is there
no fraud on the other side-and does not
this system of imprisoning debtors tend to
encourage it 1? 1t Is a common and notorious
practice, where debtor is in failing circum-
stances, to have him arrested with a bail
warrant not for fear he will run away, but
in the hope that he will do 50, and thus sub
ject his ball. or that in some other way snap
Judgment may be obtained against the
security Whoever is familiar with legal
proceedings knows that perjury is commit
| ted as we'll as oppression practiced under
the Ca. Sa. law. Printed affidavits of fradu-
lent concealment are carried about in con-
as much matter of course, as statement of
the debt itself, and the defendant clapped in
| Jail, as shorthand method of extracting
| the money-or if he is hopelessly insolvent,
with the deliberate purpose, that the misera-
BILE condition of himself and his family may
excite the commiseration of his friends and
induce them to pay it for him.
1t may said, if the condition of the
debtor is thus hard, let no man be debtor,
fho cucf 10 ir,nnoSiI,1a
So long as human society exists, SO long as
men have dealings with men, so long must
they be dependent upon each other and come
| under mutual obligations. AS to trades,
commerce. manufactures, the most ordinary
business transactions cannot be successfully
| prosecuted without trust and confidence, and
| trust and confidence are credit. And so long
as men are the creatures of circumstance,
liable to accident-subject to human mfr
nifty, losses will happen and human vicissi-
tudes occur. The very ownership ofproperty
may entail respons bilities which will survive
its loss. Look at the institution of slavery
| it is gone; but how many liabilities, grow
ing out of it, has it left behind to be settled
Look at our Banks-they are broken and
the stakeholder lately so envied for the pro-
| ductiveness of his investment, has not only
| lost his stock, but must answer for double its
value to the bank creditor. Riches do in
There are a thousand ways in which men
may be reduced to honest poverty without
perceptible fault or agency of their own
| and shall their fe low men, by cruel laws,
add still greater bitterness to its already too
bitter cup2 How many of our fellow citi-
zens, who did their utmost to prevent the
late cruel war; who wrestled with God and
man to avert the impending doom, were drag
ged into the vortex, and lost their all-all
| save life and honor. Shall nothing be saved
from the destroyer? Shall the character of
these men, under the sanction of our laws, be
aspersed with imputations of fraud by some
ruthless and unprincipled creditor, and their
bodies subjected to the indignity of Ca
| So. ? Yet such undoubtedly will be the case,
unless this amendment is adopted.
| In conclusion, Mr.. President, ask gentle
men, when voting on this measure, to remem-
| Der the destitute condition of our people.
| and to consider what eXtremites will be re-
sorted to for the purpose of enforcing the
collection of debts, when the courts are again
opened for civil business, and the machinery
of the law put in motion. Our jails will be
| filled with insolvents. I also warn gentlemen
| of the fact that a large class of improvident
litigants will then be brought into our Courts.
who never appeared there before. 1 refer to
the freedmen. Let the Gu. ST. law be appli-
| ed to these necessitous people-and allow
them to use it in turn; and our county reve-
| nues will be absorbed by prison charges
MIR. President, I have DONE 1 have en-
deavored to show that justice, humanity,
reason and expediency alike require, that we
should abolish the barbarous law of impri-
sonment for debt.
DEMAPKS OF MD KING