§ Lord Cottenhambegged to lay on the Table of the House a bill which he had brought forward last year, relating to imprisonment for debt on execution. All the provisions of this bill were taken from the Report of the Committee of 1841. He hoped, before they legislated on this question, their Lordships would carefully read that Report, and not omit the names appended to it.
Lord BroughamAs the question was now ripe for settlement—after the bills which had already been introduced, and the two reports which had been presented—he trusted his noble and learned Friend on the Woolsack would see that some measure was proposed for consolidating the law as to debtor and creditor, and fusing into one system the whole of the acts respecting insolvency and bankruptcy. He knew, from experience, that the concurrence of Government was necessary to one very essential quality of every proposed measure—its passing.
§ Lord Cottenhamsaid, one of the objects recommended by the report on which this bill was founded was the consolidation of the laws respecting bankruptcy and insolvency.
The Lord Chancellorsaid, it was impossible to give a distinct answer to his noble and learned Friend until he saw how far the present bill went. He certainly had not lost sight of the accomplishment of the object to which his noble and learned Friend alluded.
§ Bill read a first time.