Indebtness

“ Indulgence is no longer granted in the payment of a debt, the rendering of a service, or the keeping of a contract. The helpful disposition dies out and one is held down rigorously to the rights secured by the law. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That if any person shall falsely take any oath or affirmation, authorized by this act, such person shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and upon conviction thereof, shall suffer the pains and penalties in that case provided. And in case any false oath or affirmation be so taken by the debtor, the court, upon the motion of the creditor, shall recommit the debtor to the prison from whence he was liberated, there to be detained for the said debt, in the same manner as if such oath or affirmation had not been taken. ”

“ An order of discharge releases the debtor from all his obligations except debts due to the crown, and other obligations of a public character which can only be discharged with the consent of the Treasury, debts incurred by fraud, and judgment debts in an action for seduction or as a co-respondent in a matrimonial suit or under an affiliation order, which are only released to such extent and subject to such conditions as the court may expressly order. ”

“ Every person who corruptly solicits or receives, or agrees to receive, for himself, or for any other person, any gift, loan, fee, reward, or advantage, as an inducement to any member, officer, or servant of a public body, doing or forbearing to do anything in respect of any matter or transaction in which such public body is concerned; and every person who shall, with the like object, corruptly give, promise, or offer any gift, loan, fee, reward, or advantage to any person, whether for the benefit of that person or of another, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour. ”

“ What can the simple and honest ordinary man think when the judge, before whom he appears with a document showing that his opponent acknowledges an indebtedness to him of a hundred dollars, holds the signer not to be bound because the document is a cautio indiscreta, or when a document which expressly mentions a loan as the basis of an indebtedness is held to have no force as evidence except after the expiration of two years? ”

“ Disobedience of an order of the Court of Chancery—though that order may command you to pay more money than you ever had, or to hand over property which is not yours and was never in your possession—is contempt of court. ”

“ That years before he may have contemplated the possibility that thereafter a judgment might be obtained against him; that long before he may have given a warrant of attorney to confess a judgment, or by a written confession, as in this case, have put it in the power of his creditor to cause a judgment to be entered against him without his knowledge or subsequent assent,-is wholly impertinent to the inquiry whether he had in view or intended an unlawful preference at a later time, at the time when the creditor sees fit to cause the judgment to be entered. ”

“ Indebitatus assumpsit is founded upon what the law terms an implied promise on the part of the defendant to pay what in good conscience he is bound to pay to the plaintiff, consequently where the case shows that it is the duty of the defendant to pay, the law imputes to him a promise to fulfil that obligation. ”

“ To justify any interference upon our part, it is necessary to show that the course pursued has deprived, or will deprive, the plaintiff in error of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law. ”

“ Where there are [rival claims, and] witnesses on both sides, the witnesses of him who asserts the elder title, are to be [first] examined: if that title [13] be admitted, [58] then the witnesses of him who claims by subsequent title [shall be examined] . [59]
18. Should the suit be accompanied by a wager, [the Court] shall compel the losing party to pay the [14] fine [prescribed] , [60] as well as his wager and his debt to the creditor.
19. Let the monarch, rejecting subtleties, conduct the trial of suits upon the merits: even merits, in the absence of proof, must fail of success in the suit. ”

“ Likewise an attorney, notary-public, or any other person, who shall presume to draw up, negotiate, of even to witness a bill of sale, or other instrument for such commitment, &c. offends equally against the law, because "All, or any person or persons, that shall frame, contrive, write, seal, or countersign any warrant or writing for such commitment, detainer, imprisonment, or transportation; or shall be advising, aiding, or assisting in the same, or any of them," are liable to all the penalties of the act. ”

“ The main examples of the former class are revocation by burning, tearing, &c., by a later will, or by marriage of the testator (except as below) , incapacity of the testator from insanity, infancy or legal disability (such as being a convict) , undue influence and fraud, any one of which is ground for the court to refuse or revoke probate of a will. A will being ambulatory is always revocable, unless in one or two exceptional instances. Undue influence is a ground upon which frequent attempts are made to set aside wills. ”

“ Each plea stands or falls by its merits. The reason which was the basis of the ruling, if it were true, would be no sufficient reason. But it is not true. How is nil debet inconsistent with non est factum? The defendant 'owes nothing'-the bonds 'are not its deed.' It owes nothing, because the bonds are not its deed-because they are a forgery, a fraud, were made without authority. ”

“ If anyone does not attend court when it is called, or fails to prove his case when he has brought suit, or challenges a man and is defeated, or does not come promptly to court, or disturbs the court by word or deed, or fails to pay a debt when the court has given judgment against him, he shall pay the judge his fine. ”

“ If a conviction take place, whether an indictment be good or otherwise, it is ten to one that judgment passes; for, if he read the bill, it is not probable he will have penetration enough to discern its defects. ”

“ We may observe a mildness in the plaintiff's oath, and severity in the defendant's, as well as something foolishly wanton. There appears also no reason why one should be accepted, and the other disregarded. ”

“ Mediately, when if he, which by nature differeth from him, but not by law, whereby as by some bond he is fained to be all one person, doth contract, or offend, of which sort in some cases be those which be in our power, as a wife, a bondman, servant, a factor, an Attourney, or Procurator, exceeding their authority. ”

“ Where an individual has been guilty of offences against many persons, or owes debts to different creditors, he who first establishes his claim either in writing, or by oral testimony, or by the acknowledgment of the party himself, and has thereby shown that he is liable to him for damages, or is indebted to him for money loaned, shall have the preference; and said person shall be required to satisfy the claim, regardless of its priority in time; or shall be sentenced by the judge for the offence he has committed against the law. ”

“ There is no opening for transactions of this sort, nor for any one's power or influence; in fact,—and this gives questions of law a more important and a more holy character,—a judge cannot be corrupted even by a bribe in cases of this sort. 73That very witness of yours who dared to say “that he had been seen to do...” in a case where he could by no possibility know even of what the man was accused—even he would not venture to decide that a dowry was due to a husband which the woman had promised without the consent of her trustee. ”

“ That is, how can those be liable to forfeiture that begin the process. The jest lies in the ambiguity of sue, which signifies to prosecute by law, or to offer a petition.
V.ii.440 (451,9) [you force not to forswear] You force not is the same with you make no difficulty. This is a very just observation. The crime which has been once committed, is committed again with less reluctance. ”

“ If they are incapable of vindicating her reputation, if she can not be justified in the course which she has adopted, no excuse will be rendered for it; and, to determine upon the merits of her claims to consideration and to the due regard of her sister States, it is proper that we should advert to the circumstances under which those debts originated, and under which they are held by the present claimants. ”

“ In England, I believe, the usual course is to proceed in the regular way by indictment. I mention this fact and the later statute only for their bearing upon the meaning of the exception in our law. When it is considered how contrary it is to our practice and ways of thinking for the same person to be accuser and sole judge in a matter which if he be sensitive, may involve strong personal feeling, I should expect the power to be limited by the necessities of the case 'to insure order and decorum in their presence' as it is stated in Ex parte Robinson, 19 Wall. ”

“ The one complains of the violation of his rights, either growing out of contract or torts committed; the other, defending himself against the injury complained of, either denies the contract or tort, or shows that the one has been satisfied, or the other justified. ”

“ We are of opinion that a motion to dismiss the writ of error must prevail since it is settled that a conviction for a criminal, although summary, contempt is for the purposes of our reviewing power a matter of criminal law not within our jurisdiction on error. ”

“ It is not necessary to discuss more at large the form of the pleadings, or whether the action should not have been covenant and not debt, as the plaintiff was not entitled to recover in any form of action, according to the undisputed facts in evidence. ”

“ The mistrial, the assignment for a retrial, the application for a continuance, and its refusal and the reserving of an exception, the verdict and judgment and the allowance of the writ of error and the tendering of a bill of exceptions on the subject for settlement, as shown by the record, have already been stated in detail and we need not repeat those statements. ”

“ Whenever such a plea is presented, we can, if it comes to us, pass intelligently on its validity. If issue is taken, the facts can be embodied in a bill of exceptions or some other form, and we can say whether those facts render the contract void. ”

“ If he takes an oath or makes a declaration or
acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a
foreign power, or does an act whereby he becomes a subject or
citizen, or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject
or citizen of a foreign power:
(3) If he is adjudged bankrupt or insolvent, or applies for
the benefit of any law relating to insolvent debtors, or
becomes a public defaulter:
(4) If he is attainted of treason or convicted of felony or of
any infamous crime:
(5) If he ceases to be qualified in respect of property or of
residence ”

“ A man is HELD to answer a charge, &c., &c. In all these cases the word “hold” implies a perfect obligation or certain liability. But a man is “CHARGED” with an offence when a grand jury has found an indictment against him, or when a competent person has made the requisite oath. ”

“ When, therefore, we allege a decree which does not per se give us the money, or establish our right to it, and aver that, in virtue of it, we became, under the covenant, well entitled to a specific sum, the averment is clearly mixed with matter of fact, and is traversable, and must be proved at the trial, unless admitted by the pleadings. ”

“ This plea, by setting out the warrant at large, adopts and asserts all the facts therein set forth, and must be taken as alleging, that a statement of facts had been made by the proper officer, and transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, and is, therefore, an averment of that fact. It is not, to be sure, a formal, but is a substantial, averment; which is nothing more than a positive statement of facts, in opposition to argument or inference. ”

“ And that as well the justices or justice aforesaid, as the justices of assises, and every of them, at their coming into the country to take assises, shall have power to hear and determine such defaults and negligences of the said sheriffs and bailiffs, and every of them, as well by bill at the suit of the party grieved for himself as for the King [to sue] [13] by indictment only to be taken for the King; and if the sheriff or bailiff be duly attainted in this behalf by indictment, or by bill, that he which sueth for himself and for the King have the one moiety of the forfeiture of xx li. ”

“ Whoever lies, or when he is brought before the Bey, or any of his judicial magistrates, to answer to a civil process, shall deny, if the prosecution is for a debt, that he owes the person suing for it the money in question, or if the prosecutor shall be found guilty of making a false or unjust demand, in either of these cases, he who shall be found to falsify, is adjudged to a rigorous bastinadoing. ”

“ In the case of felony, where but the life of a single individual is at stake—nay, not only in the case of felony, but in the case of a simple misdemeanour, or even in the simple case of debt—we see the questions of yes or no examined by the Judges of the land with due rigour ”

“ The omission of the reasonable care required is the negligence which creates the liability; and whether this existed is a question of fact for the jury to determine, or by the court where a jury is waived. ”

“ Meserve, have you any pecuniary interest in the prosecution of this suit? A. Yes.
'Q. What is that interest? A. To furnish an offset of the suits he has against me, helping the matter to a settlement. ”