The act also relieved many dishonest debtors from the payment of their past debts, for it deprived the creditor of his most efficient remedy ; and as to all future dealings, it rendered the small tradesman less willing to give cre dit to those who, under the old system, had it. But the act did more : it encou raged fraud and a fraudulent system of trade. Persons who were refused credit by respectable tradesmen, who honestly paid for their goods, could still obtain credit of tradesmen whose practices were not so honest. The amount of mischief, both pecuniary and moral, caused by this unwise measure, may be estimated from the loud complaints against it from all parts of the kingdom, from a great variety of tradespeople, especially tailors, shoe makers, butchers, bakers, grocers, three fourths of whose debts, and of retail tradesmen generally, are ordinarily in sums under 20/. In some wholesale trades three-fourths of the debts are also in sums under 20/. Their debtors set them at defiance, as, except in cases of fraud, there was no power of obtaining payment except by an action in one of the superior courts, in which case the creditor would have to pay the costs out of his own pocket, and in the end might be unable to obtain satisfaction for the debt. Even in the small debts' courts, the costs allowed being small, the cre ditor who sued was generally charged extra costs, which could not be charged to the debtor. Many tradesmen had debts in sums of less than 20/. which in the aggregate amounted to a large sum, per haps in some cases to 2000/. or 30001. In some of the provincial towns it was stated that the aggregate amount owing in sums under 201. was not less than 100,000/.
It would seem as if the legislature made this alteration as to 20/. debts under the opinion that all persons liable to that amount and under, must be very ill-used people who required relief, and that the creditors need not to be regarded in the matter. The creditors, however, did not fail to make their complaints known, and never were complaints more reasonable.
The legislature have now remedied the mischief which they did by a new act, 8 & 9 Vict., c. 127, and intituled very significantly An act for the better se curing the payment of small debts ;' and it began by declaring, which every think ing man will allow to be true, that "it is expedient and just to give creditors a further remedy for the recovery of debts due to them." The sums to which the act applies are debts under 20/., exclusive of costs. The powers of 7 & 8 Vict., c. 96, and of the several acts relating to insolvency are applicable to 8 & 9 Vict., c. 127.
The act (8 & 9 Vict. c. 127) gives to creditors the means of obtaining pay ment of sums under 20/., besides the costs of suit, by the following process. A cre ditor who has obtained judgment, or order for payment of a debt not exceeding 20/. (exclusive of costs) may summon his debtor before a commissioner of bank ruptcy ; or he may summon his debtor before any court of requests or conscience, or inferior court of record for the re covery of small debts, if the judge of such court is a barrister-at-law, a special pleader, or an attorney of ten years' standing. It may here be remarked that this part of the act which takes the juris diction of the courts of request out of the hands of non-professional commissioners is a new provision. The judges of these courts are made removeable for misbe haviour or misconduct, and the courts will be assimilated in some degree to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Courts.
On the appearance of the debtor before the commissioner or court upon sum mons, he will be examined by the court, or by the creditor if he think fit, "touch ing the manner and time of his contracting the debt, the means or prospect of pay ment he then had, the property or means of payment he still bath or may have, the disposal he may have made of any.
property since contracting such debt.' The commissioner is empowered to make an order on the debtor "for the payment of his debt by instalment or otherwise ;" and if the debtor fails to attend or to make satisfactory answer, or shall appear to have been guilty of fraud in contracting the debt, or to have wilfully contracted it without reasonable prospect of being able to pay it, or to have concealed or made away with his property in order to defeat his creditors, the commissioner or judge of the court may commit him for any time not exceeding forty days ; but such imprisonment will not operate in satis faction of the debt. Wearing apparel and bedding of a judgment debtor, and the implements of his trade, amounting in the whole to a sum not exceeding 5/. in value, are exempted from seizure. The powers of all inferior courts under this act are assimi lated; and a suit commenced in one small debt court cannot be removed to another similar court in the same town. When a debt exceeds 101., the suit may be removed by certiorari to the superior courts. Any of her Majesty's secretaries of state are empowered to alter or enlarge the juris diction of all small debts and inferior courts. The act itself enlarges the juris diction of courts of requests, where sums not exceeding 21. could heretofore only be recovered, and now sums not exceeding 20l. may be recovered in them. It is provi ded by the act, that all suitors' money paid into court and not claimed for six years, is to go into a fund for the payment of the necessary expenses of carrying on the business of the court.
The act 7 & 8 Vict. c. 70, which came into operation 1st September, 1844, and is entitled An Act for facilitating ar rangements between Debtors and Credi tors,' is of the nature of an insolvent act. Under this act a debtor who is not sub ject to the Bankrupt Laws may apply by petition to a court of bankruptcy and obtain protection from arrest, provided his petition be signed by one-third in number and value of his creditors. The debtor's petition must set forth the cause of inability to meet his creditors, and contain a proposition for the future pay ment or the compromise of his debts, and a statement of his assets and debts. Any one of the commissioners of bankruptcy may examine the petitioning debtor, or any creditor who may join in the petition, or any witness produced by the debtor, in private ; and if he be satisfied with the statements made, he may convene a general meeting of all the petitioner's creditors, and appoint an official assignee, registrar, or a creditor tc report the pro ceedings. If at the first meeting the major part of the creditors in number and value, or nine-tenths in value, or nine tenths in number of those whose debts exceed 20/., shall assent to the proposition of the debtor, a second meeting is to be appointed. If at the second meeting three-fifths of the creditors present in number and value, or nine-tenths in value, or nine-tenths in number of those whose debts exceed 201., agree to the arrangement made at the first meet ing and reduce the terms to writing, such resolution shall be binding, provided one full third of the creditors in number and value be present. Under this arrange ment the affairs of the debtor may be settled. When this has been effected, a meeting of the creditors is to be held before the commissioner, who is to give the debtor a certificate, which shall ope rate as a certificate under the statute relating to bankrupts.