§ The Lord Chancellormoved the further consideration of the amendments of the Commons to this Bill.
Lord Broughamconsidered, it would be a very great hardship, if debtors, confined on mesne process, were to suffer a continuation of their imprisonment until the judges had drawn up the rules and orders, the day of liberation, as fixed by the bill as it now stood, being the 1st of December. Now, those rules and orders applied to writs of execution only, and he thought it would be highly desirable, looking to the immense number of persons in confinement who had expected to be liberated on the 1st of October, that they should make an amendment on the Commons' amendment, fixing the latter as the day the Act should come into operation; or, if necessary, to introduce a short bill to effect that object, which might, by suspending the standing orders, be passed within the short period that remained of the present Session. With respect also to the advertisement clause, by which it was enacted, that three shillings only should be paid for advertising the schedules of insolvents in the country newspapers—this was fraught with monstrous injustice. He had received numerous communications from various parts of the country, from persons interested in this, certainly not the least respectable portion of that department of literature, which conveyed important intelligence and information to the public, in which it was stated, that this clause would 1170 be actually ruinous, from the number of advertisements which would necessarily flow in, in consequence of the Act coming into operation, to the journals in which these parties were interested.
§ Lord Lyndhurstsaid, if a second bill were necessary for the first object his noble and learned friend had in view, could he not introduce a clause into it with respect to the advertisements?
§ The Lord Chancellorbegged to remind his noble and learned Friend, that the price of the advertisement was the same as had existed for a great number of years, though he admitted, under somewhat different circumstances. But, inasmuch as the bill would not come into operation for some time, he thought the inconvenience that would arise would be but trifling as regarded the interval which would elapse between the period of the Act coming into operation and the next Session of Parliament, at the earliest period of which he should be prepared to bring in a bill to amend the Act in this respect. With regard to that part of the bill which the Commons had amended, as to the period at which the Act should come into operation, as founded upon the rules and orders to be made by the judges, he did not think a new bill was necessary on that ground, because he did not see why the Act, as regarded proceedings on mesne process, should not come into operation anteriorly to the rules and orders of the judges with respect to the judgment writs. He should therefore propose to fix the dates for the act coming into operation for the 1st October, as the bill originally stood. The effect of that amendment would be to let those out of custody on that day who were confined on mesne process which would be a great object to attain.
§ Amendments of the Commons, with a verbal amendment agreed to.
§ Lord Lyndhurstwas glad to hear that his noble and learned Friend (the Lord Chancellor) would bring in a bill early next session to amend the advertisement clause.
Lord Broughambut the mischief would be done in the meantime. On the act coming into operation there would be from three to four thousand persons who would immediately apply to the Insolvent Court for their liberation, and the advertising their schedules at three shillings each would be ruinous to those newspapers in which they must of necessity 1171 appear. Besides, if there was the slightest mistake or error in an advertisement, inasmuch as it would be considered a misdescription by the court, and the parties must remain in prison until the error was rectified, the consequence would be that every one of the proprietors of these newspapers in which such unintentional and merely clerical error might occur, would be subject to actions for damages at the suit of debtors, the hearing of whose cases might thus be delayed. It was monstrous, and contrary to every principle of justice, that such a state of things should exist between the period of the act coming into operation and the next session of Parliament.
§ Lord Lyndhurstcould not his noble and learned Friend amend the clause by stating that if the advertisement should exceed a certain number of words that it should be paid for at a particular rate not exceeding a certain sum?
Lord Broughamsaid, that could not be done, because it was one of the original clauses of the bill, and, therefore, was one which, according to the forms of Parliament, could not be amended. It had, however, been suggested to him by his noble Friend (Lord Holland) that the better way would be at once to present a bill, inasmuch as the Imprisonment for Debt Bill could pass first, enacting that the price of the advertisements of insolvents' schedules should be fixed at a certain amount or scale, notwithstanding any act which had passed during the present Session. This would remove every difficulty.
§ Lord LyndhurstWho is to draw it?
Lord BroughamI will. The noble and learned Lord then took a sheet of paper from the table, placed it on his knee, and proceeded to draw the bill. In three or four minutes the noble and learned Lord said: I have to present to your Lordships a bill to amend that portion of the Imprisonment for Debt Bill which relates to the advertising of insolvents' schedules in England.
§ Bill read a first time.