, 1875-08-17


mt hna concealed Or disposed Of hia property.
will. design 10 dcfrau1 Lis cretliturA; and
on other allegation tho Juatico IN required to
issue IN execution against tho body Of the
defendant. Tho Constable, armed with this
document, waits until the next or sono suh
aequcnt Saturday night, when he nrFesta the
defendant md conveys lin to tho County
Jail. Tho only means Of release is to pny
thu Judgment md the costa. Tho Constable
md plnintif then divide tho plumber. We
l1ave given ono illustration Of tho process BY
Which persons arc imprisoned for debt aud
can only escnpe continued imprisonment, but
there nro n variety Of circumstances un1cr
which tho same result Of lilo abuse OF tile
fornH Of Inv is successfully practicod for
purposes Of puntlcr.
III all actions Of tort, and their number In n
largo one, nj, execution against tho body
issues directly; ond tho defendant, who, por.
hnps, il nil unconscious TINT my such action
Inns ever been brought OF judgment rendered.
against him, Is III siku manner gobbled up OIL
Saturday night md hurried of To Jail, whoro
Ito must remain unless ho satisfies tho e1ccu-
ton, which, M a general thing, ho does
In other cases tlcso proceedings nro insti-
gated by malice, for purposes Of revenge, and
to wound the feelings Of tho person arrested,
and to put him to Inconvenience as well rs
extort money from lin.
Whil9 diaposcd to acquit the present Board
Of Justices Of all responsibility for any direct
completely in s'cl proceedings, NC undor:
stand TINT one prncsice Of tho old system las
not been wholly discarded, md that is the
issue OF blank sunlmonses. This is Gono III
shia way: 4 collector OF debts, or n person
plies to and obtains at timo soy twenty
five s11m,nonses, signed by the Justice,
but in nil other respects blank. Tho collect
or calls upon debtor md fails to collect tho
bill le Immediately fills up Il summons
requiring the defendant to appear before tho
Justice Mt noon on h day na1netl. at II n. IN.
tho defendant visits the Justices office, md
inquiries concerning the case; the Justice
refers to his docket md reports that there il
no such case, and tho defendant lenyes. An
hour later, tho summons is returned, aud
Judgment Is obtained by default. Twenty
days Inter, when the ti1no for an appeal llas
passed., an execution in issued, and In duo
timo, on tho next convenient Saturday night,
the defendant, who perhaps Ind nh honest
defense, is carried to the County Jail, where
ha must stay until discharged in duo tlno
upon ha1eas corpus by tho Court or pay tho
| money,
We need not comment on this kind of
business. Its liability to abuso ought OF it.
self to prevent any Justice Of the Pence from
permitting such a practice. It is radically
| wrong; it ia an abuse Of tho forna OF law
for which there can be no sufficient apology,
and, If not violation Of tho letter Of the law,
is certainly violation of its spirit
It may seem odd TINT, at this late day In
the one-hundrotll yoar'o american freedom,
| thore should bo n necessity for protesting
against imprisonment for debt. But such is
the case, Tho necessity is produced not sc
much from any defect in the law as in the
abusea of tho law,-abuscs practiced as Q
general thing for dishonest purposes, to which
corrupt oflicera and equally corrupt auitors
resort, il violation Of Justice md honesty
The romedy is largely in the lnnds Of t)st
Justices, who should investigate all tho facts
and be clearly satisfied Of tho necessity ho
fore issuing any writ to imprison any mar
for debt. especially when that writ is to be
executed on Saturday night.