“I must beg leave, Sir, wholly to dissent from the opinion
of the honourable member on the other side of the House (Colonel Eyre), and am, on the contrary, of
opinion that the country is highly indebted to the honourable and learned
member who introduced the bill, for proposing a measure of such manifest
utility. Sir, it is to me matter of surprise that in a country like this, where
there is such a continual and daily interchange between real and personal
property, this measure should not have been sooner adopted. With respect to the
objections which have been
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“It is only, then, in cases where a person possessed of freehold estates dies without subjecting them to the payment of his debts that this bill will apply. Now, Sir, such cases can only occur from two causes. First, where a person, knowing himself to be indebted, wilfully and purposely avoids making a provision for the payment of his debts. This, Sir, I cannot but consider as a crime of the highest magnitude. The perpetrator of it avails himself of the law to defraud his just creditor. And what is the moment of the completion of his crime? That awful moment when he quits this state of being, to appear in the immediate presence of his Creator? Surely, Sir, a law to prevent so heinous a crime cannot be too soon passed through this House.
“The second case, Sir, is, when a person, intending to
make a will and to do justice to his creditors, is snatched away without having
an opportunity of carrying his intentions into effect. Perhaps in the midst of
health he has postponed this important duty. Perhaps he feels that reluctance,
common to some minds to perform what he considers as a last act. Perhaps he
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“If, however, Sir, there be any gentleman in this House, whose moral taste is so peculiarly formed, as to be gratified with the injustice of the present system, there will still remain sufficient to satisfy him. In the first place, there is the whole class of estates for life, by which a person is enabled to live in high rank and great splendour, so as to obtain considerable credit among his tradesmen, yet at his death his estate passes to the person in remainder, wholly discharged from his debts. There will also still remain all the estates entailed in strict settlement, in which the present possessor either cannot, or will not, defeat the entail, and which pass to the person next in remainder, without being subject to the debts of his predecessor. Neither of these classes will be at all affected by the present bill.
“Nor are the copyhold estates of the country within its
operation; and, indeed, I conceive this to have been the strongest objection
which was, on a former night, raised against this bill by an honourable and
learned member high in the law
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“Nor am I deterred from expressing this hope by any apprehension that in these wise, and just, and necessary regulations, we are encroaching on the institutions of our ancestors, or making alterations in the established law of the land.
“Sir, it is the very end and object of our meeting to make such regulations as may from time to time be found necessary, and to vary the law, according to the circumstances of the times and the different situations in which the country is placed. In our present situation the measure now proposed is highly necessary and advisable, and I shall therefore give the bill before the House my most hearty assent.”
