The Portland daily press., 1866-06-13

that class who may be supposed to be benefit
ed by the present state of the law. The great
creditor interests of the country, to their
honor be it spoken, have appeaied to you to
nationallze the relation of the debtor and
creditor by the passage of this bill. After one
unparalleled revulsion in trade, and another
caused by unexpected war, and after the t1uct-
uations of a five years state of war, they have
discovered that their true interest requires
that the law should be so framed as to bring
about the most prompt settlements, and give
each party the quickest and through relief.
l had the pleasure of submitting to this
House the most weighty testimony ever offer
ed on this subject to any legislative body in
the world. These Chambers of Commerce
and Boards of Trade and their constituencies
do not fear that any rogue, or wilful rebel,
who threw his property into the scales of re-
bellion with himself, will escape through the
meshes OF this bill while creditors are vigilant
and courts are honest. They wish to meet
their debtors, North and South, under the
common protection OF national law. Their
enlightened self-interest has arisen to the de-
gree of wise craftsmanship. Cannot this Con-
gress lie as magnanimous, as just, and as wise?
3. Other object to the system because they
say it is retroactive, and ayow their willing
ness to accede to it were it wholly prospective
and applicable only to contracts made after
tlC Ull oAeitl nave UcCOIIl6 d law. Ii ILLS Dc
urged on constitutional grounds, it meets with
perfect answer in the decisions OF the SUI
preme Court. Nothing can be clearer than
the language of Chief Justice Marshall
explaining the clause in the Constitution I'M
der which this bill is framed, and that which
contains the prohibition upon the States.
Far more cogent il not altogether conclusive,
is the constitutional argument against legisla-
ton to take effect only on future contracts
Some date must be fixed in such statue be-
fore which contracts must remain binding,
and beyond which they may be annulied-
The business OF the country must go ON, with
or without such statue, and debts must be
contracted on the usual credits. A man fails
month after the day designated. From the
obligations contracted within that month he
may be discharged, but he must remain in
the chains OF all his previous liabilities, al
though they may run baek .l-,--'s-rT Pr 0a
of twenty years III TACT as the evidence OF
daht rnaS lie a Judgment or speciality, no statue
could give equal and full relief to all debtors
on this principle, unless its operation should
be postponed until twenty years after its pass
age.
Such an enactment would be an abusrity
AS present measure of relief, a purely pro-
spective statute. to take effect from its date,
would be worse than mockery it cuts man
into fractions; it sewers his business and his
life; one halt, or some other fraction of him
may be bond, the other free. 1t breathes the
spirit OF the terrible Roman statute which
gave the living body of the debtor to be cut in
pieces by his creditors-a horrid dividend. 1t
would be as unjust to the creditor as to the
debtor; they should all be treated alike, and
stand equal before the law. 1t would discrim-
| mate against some and favor others; some
would take the dividend, and the balance of
their claims would still be valid; others would
be compelled to discharge their whole debt
for the same dividend Such statute could
not be uniform in its operation, and would
therefore, be unconstitutional. For. as have
maintained in this debate, the constitutional
requirement in bankrupt law is, that it
should be uniform in its effect upon the rela-
ton of debtor and creditor. That is a person.
al relation. Their rights are personal rights
| their contracts are personal . contracts
their remedies are by personal actions, and
the relief granted by a bankrupt law is dis
| charge from these personal actions. The eff
iect should be uniform upon all, or the con-
stitutional requirement is violated.
But this statute cannot properly be called
retroactive, even in the sense that remedial
statutes are retroactive. 1t is not within the
prohibition OF &c post facto laws. 1t takes eff
feet upon the business of the country as it is,
| in the same manner that the two previous
statutes took effect at their respective dates
The warrant to enact it is found in the
explicit language of the Constitution, and to a
bill like this, with less propriety than perhaps
to any other, can the term retroactive or re.
Prospective be applied in the offensive sense
that it changes existing rights and liabilities
without notice; for every contract that has
been made since the ratification of the Con-
stitutlon has been entered into with full
knowledge of its contents, and subject to the
D. Of ox,f 20 A. L.