re 
DEB 
nant, by deed of fale, by teafe referving rent, or by bond or 
obligation. Thefe arelooked upon as the next clafs of debts 
after thofe of record, being confirmed by {pecial evidence 
under feal. 
Debis by fimple contraG, are fuch, where the contra, 
upon which the obligation arifes, is neither afcertained by 
the matter of record, nor yet by a8 or fpecial imftrument, 
(therefore only) better than a verbal promife. There is one 
ager es das ebts upon gs — Rats is diftinguithed 
w well-kno appellat of * paper-credit.” 
Chefe are eda by hills, of ae, and promiffory notes, 
which fee refpeétively. 
EBT, Information of. ¢ INFORMA 
Desr, rally Ha in ic Ancient Fi Preneb Law, i is that 
dve by virtu r writing under one’s hand, and 
not proved are 
Desr, Hypotbecaryy is that due in virtue of fome contra& 
or judgment 
ERT, Prediatory, is that arifing from an eee of 
lands, &c. the whole purchafe whereof has not been 
Dzst, Privileged, is that which mult be fatisfied a 
all others; as che. ing’s tax, & 
DEBTE in a : perfon, debtor to another 
makes reditor See or if fuch creditor 
obtains letters of adminiftration o his e may retain 
Sufficient to Pay imfelf before sre creditor whofe rae 
of degree. Blackit. Com. vol. iii. p. 18. See 
cc and RETAINER 
EBTOR, a perfon who owes fomething to another : 
in oppofition to creditor, which is he to whom it is owing. 
Concerning the treatment of infolvent debtors by the 12 
tables, &c.; fee BawxrurT.  _ 
DEBTS, Prioriry or. See Executor. 
epTs, Public, are debts entailed by a government upon 
the induftry and refources of pofterity, in order to provide 
itary adminiftration appe 
with! in the year. The aie indeed, were altogether in- 
confiderable, and the latter, whenever they occurred, in con-. 
I 
maintaining them upplied ; 
taxes have accumulated all ne hare involved moft of the 
nations which have had recourfe to them in diftrefs and ruin. 
Great Britain this fyftem of borrowing, aad 
hitherto exempt from the confequences which it has pro- 
duced in other countries, has been carried to a m hee greater 
extent, and its progrefs feems to have been accelerated in 
proportion as the debt has become more enormous ; 
during the laft fifteen years, it has almoft a el accu- 
snulation of the preceding century, = e 
nually raifed for the mere payment of the intr would 
: ave plied difcharged the whole aed of t t, ata 
when the aoe on was in fear of being penne by 
ie coeue 
The cane of this country may, perhaps, have been 
neither more frugal nor more attentive to the interefts o 
the people defore, than they have been fince, the revolution ; 
pe Y ann. 
DEB 
yet it is certain, that at the death of Charles 1I., and even 
at the expulfion of his fucceflor, the nation was encumbered’ 
with no other debt than that of 664,2 
following reign, the of expending and borrow- 
ing was pur rfued without the leaft intermiffion, 
lions ; and at the death of queen Anne in 
amounted to 50,644,306/. requiring 2,811,903/. to be ans 
nually raifed in taxes on the property and labour of the 
people, towards paying the intereft o 
po the acceffion of George I. the ais appears to have’ 
been _ fertoufly alarmed at the magnitude of the debt, and 
ve felt fo impatient under the burthens which it a 
impaled upon them, that they confidered the public expen- 
iture as having nearly exhaufted the refources and deftroyed 
the credit of the count 
aged in arranging t 
ing remedies to es evils which cae threatened to the 
public peace and fecurity. Such of the taxes as were only 
temporary were made perpetual, and the funds which had 
hitherto been blended together, without order or diftinGion, 
were divided into four claffes, and were-appropriated to dsl 
following purpofes : . The Aggregate Fund, tothe 
ment of intereft on money due to the bank of Eagind, 
a on other debts, and alfo to the hana of 120,000/, 
for the ufe of the ne lift, adly. The South Sea 
Fund, to the payment of mtereft on the capital of the South 
e General ae to the payment 
flo chi in ea Sou 
argin af the intereft, &c. in 
the ial former ey ae was to be regula ae varolied to the 
paym the national debt. During a few years 
the citablifhment of thefe funds, the application of them 
attended to with confiderable care and vigilance; and ie 
improvement of the finking fund, in particular, was recom- 
mended to parliament in {peeches from the throne, with the 
ie ike as it was ec See back in = addreffes of the bonfe 
m See Fonps s the operations of this 
fu nd did aa commence till he yes 1719, and they were 
never affilted by any economy in the adminiltration of the 
finances, they produced but little effek during the remaining 
part of this reign ; fo that, although the nation, throngh the 
whole courfe of it, was engaged in no wars of any confe- 
quence, the debt, inftead of being reduced, was increafed, on 
the 3 1ftof December, 1727, (or infix months after the deceafe 
of George I.) to 52,092.23 52: but, in confequence of the 
redu€tion of intere/? oa {ome part of this debt, the annual 
amount of the taxes neceffary to provide for the fame, was 
only 2,363, 564 or AAP; 3 301+ lefs ee at the clofe of the 
preceding reig 
hen Cae i. fucceeded to the throne, the nation 
was in a ftate of at leaft 
ing the balance of powets and fecuring the kin 
in Germany. Neverthelefs, the minifter who had 
fo. much credit in eftablifhing the finaking fund, and who 
- had 
