The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-03-24
TEE NEW CODE.



We thought objectionable. But because
we have not found it to be entirely free
from imperfections, as no human work
] has ever been, we have not believed
it just to make them the occasion of
wholesale abuse of the Legislature that
adopted it. The responsibility for the
Code is a divided one. The Commits
sioner who prepared it, the joint select
Committee which deliberately consider
ed and reported it chapter by chapter,
the Legislature which passed it, and
the Governor who approved the sever
al statutes, were all actuated by con-
scientiOus convictions of duty and per-
formed their several parts with the
purest motives.
We are convinced that several of its
important provisions have been con-
demned in some quarters without a
proper understanding of what they real
ly are. To remove these erroneous i'm
pressions is the object of this article.
The charge often made that the
Code is in the interest of the creditor
class, as against the debtor-cLass, and that
it discriminates against the poor or
against labor, is wholly unfounded. 1t
is not known on what the charge of
being especially favorable to creditors is
based by. those who have made it. If
there is in the Code anything new in
the interest of creditors, and against
that of debtors, it has escaped our dill
gent search, stimulated by the earnest
desire to find it. We have found the
same old collection lars in force since
1910, Importance Term and all, except
the Forthcoming Bond law, which was
repealed in 1857, and was more in the
interest of creditors than of debtors
The attachment law for debts due is
the same
The law requiring security for costs is
as before.
The Exemption law is the same as
before or rather more liberal to the
debtor, and we cannot imagine on what
is founded the idea of its being in the in
terest of creditors,
Money lenders are prohibited from
taking more than ten per cent. interest
per annom, under penalty of losing all
interest, if they exact more.
Landlords and employers are restrict
ed to the fair market Ualue of adj
vances made by them to tenants or en-
ployes. These don't seem to be
in favor of creditors and the rich,
against debtors, and poor men! The
material man, the mechanic, the jour
neyman or laborer he employs, the agri-
cultural laborer, and the domestic la
borer are all secured and provided for,
wages of the laborer and mechanic are
exempt from punishment or other legal
process, and speedy means are provided
for the poor man to assert and enforce
his demand, and if he is too poor to
secure the costs, he is entitled to have
all the process of the law without it.
When he obtains his judgment for
labor done, nothing is exempt from its
execution
The provision that -f-ofeerts- -elnSll
be exempt from execution, when the
process is for rent, is IN the particular
interest of the poor, who are thereby
invested with credit to procure homes
for their families, and who, without this
provision, would be compelled to pay
rent in advance OF secure it, which in
most instances they could not do. |
What are usually called, The Agrieult't
raj Lien Lars, meet the condition of
the agricultural tenants. But, there
is large class of poor people, who con-
gregate in cities, towns and villages, to
earn their daily bread by daily labor.
They must have houses in which to live.
Their goods are few, and of small value.
Exemption laws are Of little interest to
them, for they have little to be exemp-
ted, but the little they have is equal in
value to the monthly rent Of home
commensurate with their wants. The
subsection of this to liability for rent,
serves the valuable purpose, to them,
of giving them q credit sufficient to-
procure the one article of absolute
necessity, house in which to find a
home during the struggle for the means
to sQbsist. Fhe humble laborer may
have bedstead and bed and table and
chairs and little else, aggfegating few
dollars in value, but the home he rents
demands only few dollars a month as
rent, and with his goods liable for it, he
is placed by the law, as to this necessity,
on the same plane with Vanderbilt, as
to his extFaxagaEt desires.
With his goods liable for the rent,
he need not pay in advance nor give
security, which in most instances he
could not do, for the owner of such q
tenement as he wants will cheerfully |
trust him until he can, by his labor
earn the money te Bayi for the landlord
feels secure in the liability for tie rent
of the little that his tenant possesses.
Like considerations Of sound policy
suggested a kindred provision, as to
forfeited recognizances or bail bonds.
The exemption law does not apply to
them. A large majority of the people
of this State are poor, and not by any
means possessed of what is exempt by
law from execution. a result was that
many poor persons could net give bail
when they should. The interest Of
.o,;ntrr rcrn,,irnn hat In hailnhln nnanm