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<DATE>2007-10-17</DATE>
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<NAME>Emma Leeson Huber</NAME>
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<STC T="W">G620</STC>
<STC T="T">669.f.14[41]</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99869894</BIBNO>
<VID>163029</VID>
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<HEAD>Abu&s;es di&s;covered, whereby the Creditors are meerly cheated, the Officers of Law, and Goalers are unju&s;tly inriched, and the poor Debter and their families Tyrannically de&s;troyed.</HEAD>
<P>AMong&s;t many the Con&s;iderations I have had of the oppre&s;&s;ions common among&s;t men, this hath &s;eemed to me none of the lea&s;t, That one man is &s;uffered to devour another, and that by colour of Ju&s;tice, as in the ca&s;e of Arre&s;ts of mens per&s;ons by colour or debts, before Judgement, or Legal conviction. And hearing of your pious endeavours to beget a Law for Redre&s;s of &s;uch heavie Oppre&s;&s;ions and Cruelties now u&s;ed in that kind, and the Reforming the Ancient Common Law of England in that particular, Do in my Zeal and Sen&s;e of other mens Sufferings (and that divers times very unju&s;tly) repre&s;ent to your view &s;ome former Collections of mine, of the many inconveniences which attend &s;uch Re&s;traints, before it doth appear that there is a cleer and ju&s;t Debt.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t place therefore, I take the Law to have bin fundamentally, That no mans per&s;on was lyable to Arre&s;t at the Com|mon Law for Debt, no not upon Execution; which you may &s;ee 13. <HI>H.</HI> 4. Fol. 5. That the Statute of 25. <HI>Ed.</HI> 3. Cap. 17. was the fir&s;t Law that &s;ubjected the Per&s;on to Arre&s;t, in ca&s;e of Debt, the Proce&s;s before that Law, being <HI>Summons,</HI> and <HI>Capias</HI> again&s;t the Lands.</P>
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<HEAD>The Abu&s;es and Oppre&s;&s;ions introduced &s;ince that Law, and under preten&s;e of Ju&s;tice, are numberle&s;s.</HEAD>
<ITEM>1. That many have bin, and are daylie Arre&s;ted upon feigned Accounts, where no debt is due at Law: And this is a common thing in London; and other Corporations.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. &V;pon Specialties for Debt forged and feigned.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. &V;pon Sleeping Specialties, that have long before bin di&s;charged, but the Bond not given in, nor cancelled, as they ought; which daylie experience &s;heweth upon Bills in Equity for relief in that particular.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. &V;pon Specialties lo&s;t or mi&s;carryed, and come to the hand of Strangers, who feignedly take Admini&s;tration.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. &V;pon pretended Debts and Promi&s;es.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. &V;pon Accounts for 1000. l. whereas the debt is not an hundred.</ITEM>
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<P>Vpon all which, or any of the &s;aid Accounts, the party that is arre&s;ted mu&s;t be an&s;werable to the Action, be the debt never &s;o &s;mall true, or fal&s;e, and mu&s;t therefore ly in Pri&s;on until he put in bayl: which if in a Corporation, or otherwhere, will be hard for the party Arre&s;ted to procure, if not impo&s;&s;ible, without troubling his Security for the &s;ame debt, binding his hands, to free his heels. Be&s;ides, the charge of his <HI>Habeas Corpus,</HI> in &s;uch ca&s;es, to remove him&s;elf, and put in Bayl above; when as all this while it doth not Judicially appear whether the party arre&s;ted be really indebted or not.</P>
<P>By this means, the Law, (which truly was intended for Redre&s;s) becomes the de&s;truction and ruine of thou&s;ands of Families; and the &s;upport and maintenance of under-Sheriffs, Sergeants, Bayliffs, Goalers, and Catch-poles; the latter of which feed upon the mi&s;eries of hone&s;t men, or grow rich out of others ruines, and the Debtor thereby more di&s;abled to pay his ju&s;t debts. And M. <HI>Horn</HI> in his Mirror of Ju&s;tice &s;aith, <HI>That by &s;uch Writs many are destroyed wrongfully:</HI> Fol. 233. <HI>a.</HI> And Fol. 64. <HI>b.</HI> he &s;aith, <HI>The An|cient Law of this Kingdom was, That no Judge was to hear the Plaintiffe in his cau&s;e, if he did not first put Sureties to an&s;wer his Adver&s;aries full damages if he complained of him wrongfully.</HI></P>
<P>And the Ancient proceedings in Chancery was, that the Complainant upon exhibiting his Bill, was to enter Bond to prove the Surmi&s;e thereof; otherwi&s;e the Defendant was not compealable to an&s;wer the &s;ame.</P>
<P>Men are in danger of Arre&s;t &s;everal waies and means. <HI>By Latitat out of the Kings Bench into any County. By</HI> Capias <HI>upon Ori|ginal in the Common Pleas. By</HI> Capias <HI>upon the Exchequer. By Bill upon the Exchequer. By Bill of Middle&s;ex. By Sergeants of the Mace, in Corporations, Towns, and Cities. By Bayliffs of Liberties. By Writs of Priviledges, in nature of Muchmen out of the Chan|cery.</HI> So that the Poor Debtor, nay the non-Debtor, <HI>e&s;t undique circumventus.</HI></P>
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<HEAD>The Oppre&s;&s;ions by colour of Law, are intollerable.</HEAD>
<ITEM><HI>By Arre&s;ts,</HI> The Sergeants in Corporations, and Sheriffs, Bayliffs, and Catch-poles, for making Arre&s;ts over and above Fees, take exce&s;&s;ive Extortions, as 10. l. 20. l. &amp;c. much more for Arre&s;ts: Be&s;ides their cruel u&s;age of the Pri&s;oner, his chargeable re&s;traint for Dyet, Lodging 2 s. 6 d. per night for his bed, and runing the Pri&s;oner into extraordinary expen&s;es for Tobacco, Wine, Beer, Ale, which the&s;e Harpies will call for, doubling the debt, if little, and enlarging of it, if it were great before.</ITEM>
<ITEM><P><HI>By Habeas Corpus.</HI> A man arre&s;ted here in London, cannot remove him&s;elf by <HI>Habeas Corpus,</HI> from the Counter to any other Pri|&s;on of Kings Bench or Fleet, but it will co&s;t him five Marks; or three pounds from thence to Fleet&s;treet, to bring him to the Judges chamber. The Judges Fee is (as I take it) 15. s. 4. d. and how many hundred there be of the&s;e in a yeer, may be gathered.</P><P>If by <HI>Habeas Corpus</HI> the Pri&s;oner be removed out of the Country Pri&s;ons, then it will be chargeable to him; 10, 20, 40. l. and according to the di&s;tance of the place from whence he is brought up to London.</P>
<P>Added to the&s;e, the Fees of Goalers, Keepers of Pri&s;ons, and Turn-keys, the Mar&s;hal of the Mar&s;hal&s;ie of the upper Bench, and Warden of the Fleet Fees, according to the &s;everal qualities of the Per&s;ons.</P></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Commitments,</HI> Of an Earl to the Fleet, 20. l. Of a Baron, 15. l. Of a Knight, 5. l. An E&s;quire, 5. Marks or 3. l. A Gentleman, 2. l. A Yeoman, 1. l. 6. s. 8.</ITEM>
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<HEAD>The &s;eveaal Rates of Chamber Rents, according to the Quality of the Per&s;on and Chamber.</HEAD>
<ITEM>Some 20. s. per week, &s;ome 15. &s;ome 10. &s;ome 5. &s;ome 4. &s;hillings per week. And after the &s;ame rate for chamber rent a week in the Kings Bench.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The Fees of Commitment by <HI>Habeas Corpus</HI> to the Kings Bench, is chargeable to the Pri&s;oner, at lea&s;t 4. l. 12. s. 4. d. Be&s;ides for out-goings upon day Writs, 8. s. <HI>per diem,</HI> for out-going upon favour. And by <HI>Ba&s;ton.</HI> And charge of Dyet, which the Pri|&s;oner hath at great rates.</ITEM>
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<P>When all the&s;e charges are heaped upon a man under arre&s;t (perhaps for no ju&s;t debt) it may be but for a &s;mall debt: what a heavie oppre&s;&s;ion is this to be &s;uffered in a Chri&s;tian Common-wealth&punc; A Man may call it a common mi&s;ery. The debt (if any) is by the&s;e charges trebled, the Pri&s;oner, his Children, and Family, di&s;per&s;ed and ruined, the Per&s;on him&s;elf made u&s;ele&s;s to the Common-wealth, as being bur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="3 letters"> alive, and more di&s;abled to pay or &s;atisfie his ju&s;t debts and Creditors, then ever before.</P>
<P><HI>Sir,</HI> I have known when many poor people have bin put to 10. s. for a &s;uppo&s;ed debt of 3. s. 4. d. or a tre&s;pa&s;s of that value, being Arre&s;ted in the Country 120. miles hence, by a <HI>Latitat,</HI> to draw a Compo&s;ition, which rather then the poor man will travel to Lon|don to an&s;wer the Suit, &s;ubmits unto: and this is the ordinary u&s;e of Atturneys, which get by it 8. s. 4. d. or thereabout, although the Action might be tryed either in the Court Baron of the Manour, or Countrey Court, for two &s;hillings &s;ix pence Charge.</P>
<P>So that in Fees to Judges, Lawyers, Atturneys, Clerks; and others, and by the oppre&s;&s;ion and extortion of Bayliffs, Sergeants of the Mace, and of Liberties, Goalers and Catch-poles, there is exhau&s;ted 30000. l. <HI>per annum</HI> at the lea&s;t, out of the e&s;tates of Debtors,<NOTE PLACE="marg">You may re|member the Act this Parl. for ta|king away the High Commi&s;&s;i|on, and Com|mi&s;&s;ary Courts, which was bur|then&s;om to the Subject, in extor|ted Fees, 10000. <HI>per annum.</HI></NOTE> and  poor Pri&s;oners, not a penny of their debts payed, their e&s;tates ruined, and their per&s;ons di&s;abled for ever, which certainly was never the intent of that Statute, to undermine the common Law, which had mans liberty in &s;o light an e&s;teem, as if it were not lyable to Arre&s;t for debt.</P>
<P><HI>Sir,</HI> I have credibly heard that there hath bin <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="3 letters">&s;ed 90000. <HI>l. per annum</HI> by the profit of Impri&s;onment of Pri&s;oners in the Fleet there. I pray what out of the Pri&s;oners of the Kings Bench, which hath larger Rules? And what extorted by Goalers, Sergeant of the Mace, in Corporations, by Clerks, and other Officers of the Country, in London, and throughout the Kingdom? And all this out of the livelyhoods, fortunes, and e&s;tates, of men in a mi&s;erable and wanting condition. And &s;urely, tho&s;e riches cannot be &s;aid to be well gotten, which are drawn from men in mi&s;ery, which are alwaies as ill &s;pent, for it is informed, that of the 90000. l. mo&s;t thereof was &s;a|crificed yeerly for by Favors, &amp;c. and &s;o <HI>de caeteris.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>W. G.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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