GENERAL HISTORY. 



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■were agreed to by the House ; 

 and a message was sent to the 

 Commons, communicating these 

 resolutions. 



The resolutions l)eing read ia 

 the House of Commons, June 

 10th, the question was put on an 

 amendment, jjroposed for extend- 

 ing the class itication of the sta- 

 tutes to Scotland and Ireland. 

 Mr. Bankes having moved ujion 

 it, that the debate be adjourned 

 to that day three months, the 

 motion was rejected by GO votes 

 to 26. 



The following resolution was 

 then agreed to : " That this 

 House doth agi'ce with the Lords 

 in the said resolution so amended. 

 That from the present state of 

 the statute law of this realm, it 

 is highly expedient, that effectual 

 measures should be taken to ar- 

 range the matters contained in 

 the statutes of the united king- 

 dom of (jreat Britain and Ire- 

 land, and in the statutes passed in 

 the separate i)arliaments of Eng- 

 land, Scotland, and Ireland, re- 

 spectively, under distinct and 

 proper heads." 



A legal topic of considerable 

 interest was brought into public 

 discussion on May 30th, by Mr. 

 William Sniith, on a motion re- 

 specting extents in aid. The hon. 

 gentleman, in his introductory ex- 

 planation, stated, that the extents 

 issued by the Coiut of Exche- 

 quer iiad gradually risen in num- 

 ber, from nine in 1801, to a hun- 

 dred in 1815. Of these processes 

 there are two kinds, in chief, or 

 in aid ; the fcjrmer are on inmie- 

 diate crown debtors ; the latter, 

 on the petition of a crown debtor, 

 in ordei' lo satisfy the crown de- 

 mands, when tlie party is unable 



to pay, his means being withheld. 

 The power of extents is such, tiiat 

 they take place of all other debts, 

 and may be levied, not only on 

 the goods belonging to the debtor, 

 but even on the cattle of others 

 on his lands. In an extent in aid, 

 the party suing it out, applies to 

 the crown office for a writ against 

 himself as a debtor of the crown. 

 The writ is directed to the sheriff, 

 j-equiring him to siunmon a jury 

 to take an in([uisition on the suit : 

 an affidavit is exhibited in his 

 court, upon which the jury find 

 the debt. The \erdict being thus 

 obtained by the jiarty, he goes 

 before one of the banms of the 

 Exchequer, and asks for a Jiat. 

 In the reign of Cliailes II., the 

 Couitof Exchecpier declared, that 

 this Jiat should be granted only 

 upon debts originally due to 

 the crown, upon debts of spe- 

 cialty, arul after motion in open 

 court. These guards had of late 

 years become of no practical 

 effect, and many cases occurred 

 in which simple contract debts, 

 with which the crtnvn had no 

 connection, had been assigned to 

 the crown, and this without any 

 motion in court. By this prac- 

 tice of issuing out extents in aid, 

 it was scarcely necessary to show, 

 that any debt was due to the 

 crown : the party taking out pro- 

 cess had only to swear, that he 

 was debtor to a certain amount, 

 and obtain an extent for a svuri 

 of any magnitude. 



The hon. gentleman proceeded 

 to state individual cases of abuse, 

 in every one of which, he said, 

 the party applying for the process 

 was nuich more than able to dis- 

 clrarge his own debt to the crown, 

 but chose frauduhrntly to employ 



this 



