Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt.

4. Abolition of imprisonment for debt, with exceptions. 5. CLAUSE A.-Saving of power of committal for small debts. 6. CLAUSE B.-Power under certain circumstances to arrest defendant about to quit England.

7. Discharge of persons in custody at the commencement of this Act. 8. Saving as to sequestration against property.

9. CLAUSE C.-Saving of Bankruptcy Act, 1869.

PART II.

Punishment of Fraudulent Debtors.

10. Punishment of fraudulent debtors.

11. Penalty for absconding with property.

12. CLAUSE D.-Penalty on fraudulently obtaining credit, &c.

13. False claim, &c. a misdemeanor.

14. Order by court for prosecution on report of trustee.

15. Order for reference to Attorney General.

16. Expenses of prosecutions.

17. Form of indictment.

18. Quarter sessions to have jurisdiction in respect of offences under

Act.

19. Punishments under this Act cumulative.

PART III.

Warrants of Attorney, Cognovits, and Orders for Judgment.

Clause.

20. CLAUSE E.-Warrants of attorney and cognovit actionem to be executed in the presence of an attorney on behalf of the person.

21. CLAUSE F.-Warrant, &c., not formally executed, invalid. 22. Filing of warrant of attorney and cognovit actionem.

23. Filing of judge's order to enter up judgment.

24. Application of 3 Geo. 4. c. 39, 6 & 7 Vict. c. 66, to judge's orders.

5

A

BILL

[AS AMENDED IN COMMITTEE]

FOR

The Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt, for the punishment A.D. 1869. of fraudulent debtors; and for other purposes.

BE

E it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

PRELIMINARY.

1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Debtors Short title Act, 1869."

of Act.

Extent of
Act.

2. This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland. 3. This Act shall not come into operation until the day on Commence10 which The Bankruptcy Act, 1869, comes into operation, which day is herein-after referred to as the commencement of this Act, and words and expressions defined or explained in The Bankruptcy Act, 1869, shall have the same meaning in this Act.

15

20

25

PART I.

ABOLITION OF IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.

ment and of Act.

construction

4. With the exceptions herein-after mentioned, no person shall, Abolition of after the commencement of this Act, be arrested or imprisoned for imprisonmaking default in payment of a sum of money.

There shall be excepted from the operation of this section:

1. Default in payment of a penalty, or sum in the nature of a
penalty;

2. Default in payment of any sum recoverable summarily before a
justice or justices of the peace;

3. Default by a trustee or person acting in a fiduciary capacity in
payment of any sum in his possession or under his control.

ment for debt with exceptions.

A.D. 1869.
PART I.

CLAUSE A. Saving of power of committal for small debts.

CLAUSE B.

Power under certain circumstances

to arrest

defendant

4. Default by an attorney or solicitor in payment of costs when
ordered to pay costs for misconduct as such, or in payment
of a sum of money when ordered to pay the same in his
character of an officer of the court making the order;

5. Default in payment for the benefit of creditors of a salary or 5
other like sum accruing periodically in respect of the pay-
ment of which any court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy
is authorized to make an order;

6. Default in payment of sums in respect of the payment of which
orders are in this Act authorized to be made in the county 10
courts and other inferior courts.

5. Subject to the provisions herein-after mentioned, the jurisdiction vested in a judge or his deputy under The County Courts Act, 1846, and the Acts amending the same of committing to prison a person making default in payment of a sum not exceeding fifty 15 pounds shall be continued, and the jurisdiction under the Act "for "the better securing the payment of small debts," passed in the session of the eighth and ninth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter one hundred and twenty-seven, of committing a person to prison who makes default in payment of a sum not exceed- 20 ing twenty pounds shall be extended to the committing to prison of a person making default in payment of a sum not exceeding fifty pounds, and may be exercised by a judge of a county court or his deputy, or by a judge of any inferior court of record for the recovery of small debts held under statute, or his deputy being a barrister; 25 provided—

(1.) That any jurisdiction hereby continued of committing a

person to prison shall be exercised only by a judge or his deputy, and by an order made in open court and showing on its face the ground on which it issues.

30

(2.) That such jurisdiction shall only be exercised where it
appears to the satisfaction of the judge or his deputy that
the person making default in payment of the sum which
he was directed by an order or judgment to pay, either has
or has had, since the date of such order or judgment, the 35
means to pay the debt, damages, or costs, or instalments
thereof in respect of the payment of which he has made
default, and has refused or neglected, or refuses or neglects,
pay the same.

to

6. After the commencement of this Act a person shall not be 40 arrested upon mesne process in

any

action.

Where the plaintiff in any action in any of Her Majesty's superior

about to quit courts of law at Westminster in which the defendant is now liable to

England.

arrest, proves at any time before final judgment by evidence on oath, A.D. 1869. to the satisfaction of a judge of one of those courts, that the plaintiff PART II. has good cause of action against the defendant to the amount of fifty pounds or upwards, and that there is probable cause for 5 believing that the defendant is about to quit England unless he be apprehended, and that the absence of the defendant from England will materially prejudice the plaintiff in the prosecution of his action, such judge may in the prescribed manner order such defendant to be arrested and imprisoned unless and until he has given the pre10 scribed security not exceeding the amount claimed in the action, that he will not go out of England without the leave of the court.

Where the action is for a penalty or sum in the nature of a penalty, it shall not be necessary to prove that the absence of the defendant from England will materially prejudice the plaintiff in 15 the prosecution of his action, and the security given (instead of being that the defendant will not go out of England) shall be to the effect that any sum recovered against the defendant in the action shall be paid, or that the defendant shall be rendered to prison.

The term "Prescribed" means in this section, prescribed by 20 general rules made in pursuance of "The Common Law Procedure Act, 1852," and general rules may be made in pursuance of the said Act for determining the amount of security to be given (subject as aforesaid) and the mode of giving the same, and the names and form of writs, if any, to be issued and other matters 25 necessary for the purpose of carrying this section into effect.

persons in custody at the com

mencement of this Act.

7. Where any person is, at the commencement of this Act, in Discharge of custody in pursuance of a writ, attachment, or other process in any case in which he would not be liable to be arrested or imprisoned after the commencement of this Act, such person shall, at the com30 mencement of this Act, be discharged from such custody without payment of any fees, but his arrest, imprisonment, or discharge shall not affect the creditor's rights or remedies for enforcing the payment of any money due to him, or deprive the creditor of the benefit of any charge or security on any property of the debtor.

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8. Sequestration against the property of a debtor may, after the commencement of this Act, be issued by any court of equity in the same manner as if such debtor had been actually arrested.

Saving for tion against

sequestra

property. CLAUSE C.

9. Nothing in this part of this Act shall in any way affect any Saving for right or power, under The Bankruptcy Act, 1869, to arrest or Bankruptcy 40 imprison any person.

Act, 1869.