TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14984, 3 June 1914, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Prison for Debt. The days of the Fleet, and .Marsbal-j-ea prisons, where unfortunate- debtors were entombed, often lor life, ar-' lon'* since past, but imprisonment lor debt oiill continues in England and other parts of the British Empire. The laws of other European countries ditfer widely from those of England in their treatment of debtor.-, a.s also do tho-r-o of tho United States. Tho practice m the la>l-n."med country vatic. m iho different States, a writer id iho "■Standard says, but m practically half of them there is n provision in tho Constitution itself that there shall .->. no imprisonment for debt in ;i civil action. Fraud in contracting a debt, however, is a different matter. It a man without money deliberately ordered an enormous quantity of goods for which he knew he could not pay, and having sold them, pocketed the money and iett, the State, he could certainly be imprisoned for iraud. In other States where impiisonmeut is possible tho creditor must make an affidavit that tho debtor has property which ho refuses to apply to the payment of tho debt, or show that thero was fraud in contracting the debt, that the debt ' or has conveyed, or is nyi g to convey, his property away, or that he is intending to leave the Stnto for the purpose of defrauding his creditors. There is no State in.which tho debtor is not allowed to retain enougii of his income to support himself and his fa mi y. In Fiance, if a person obtains goods without pa.ing for them, ana'dees not pay, tho creditor can re.over his money ay the ordinary ways of execution. 'l__-e is no execution agaiust the person; c„is was aboiished in 1007, chiefly as tiio re-uit of a Tress campa.gu against in.pi ison.iient for debt, Ap 4 aienty t-.e 'praccico of giving cieui., bo far iroin being uiminished, has mci eased under Hie existing system. lv German law imprisonment tor dent, generally speaking, does not exist, but if a debtor, after an execution has failed, does not appear at Court and swear that he has not wilfully concealed anything, he can bo imprisoned lor refusing to obey the order of the Court, and similarly if evidence is produced showing that he is Jikoly to leave the country or is disposing of his propel ty he can be imprisoned. Figures mado public recently show that in 1912 there was a decided decrease in tho number of debtors imprisoned in England—sß4o as against 7692 for the pievious year—this number being the smallest recorded since ISDI. Tho agitation for the abolition of imprisonment seems to bo growing.