4 Ala. 554 | Ala. | 1843
Our act of Assembly directs that certain articles shall be retained by, and for the use of every family in the State, free and exempt from levy or sale, by virtue of any execution or other legal process. [Digest, 167, §42.]
It is not disputed that the articles seized are of those enumerated in the statute, but we think the plaintiff is not one of the class of persons within its protection. The exemption is not conferred upon the property of every person, and it seems clear that a debtor, merely as such, is not considered; it is only when connected with others that protection is cast around his property, and this is, that those dependent on him may not be injured by his destitution. This connection too, which creates the exemption, must exist in this State. Such indeed, are the very terms of the enactment, but without them, it would
To exempt this property from execution, under the circumstances disclosed, would produce no benefit to any one within the State, alone exempting the debtor, and we have already shown that, as’such, the statute gives him no right.
The judgment must be affirmed.