Case Name: Frere v. Mudd
Court: United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1823-04
Citations: 2 Cranch 407
Docket Number: 
Parties: Frere v. Mudd.
Judges: 
Reporter: Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (District of Columbia - reported by Mackey)
Volume: 2
Pages: 407–408

Head Matter:
Frere v. Mudd.
An. insolvent debtor, arrested for a debt due before his discharge, can only be relieved by the Court, or a judge of the Court, before whom the process is returnable.
A writ of habeas corpus was issued to bring up the body of Mudd, who was arrested on a ca. sa. issued by a justice of the peace for a debt under $50. It was suggested, upon the return, that all the debt except $8 was due before his discharge under the Insolvent Act, and the Court was now moved, under the tenth section of the act, to discharge him upon his paying the $8 and interest and costs. The execution was, under the Act of Congress of the last session, [1st March, 1823,] returnable before the justice, [3 Stat. at Large, 743.]

Opinion:
The Court
(nem. con.) refused to discharge him, because, by that section of the act, the power to discharge, in such cases, is given only to the Court, or a judge of the Court, to whom the execution is returnable.