Case v. DunmoreCase v. Dunmore
The opinion of the Court was delivered, by
It has been repeatedly decided by this Court that the exemption of goods from execution under thе Act of 1849, is a privilege for the benefit of the debtor which he may wаive even by the omission to clаim it at the proper time, without any express contract for thе purpose. But where at the time of contracting the debt he agrees to waive the benefit of the exemption, and this forms the grоund of the credit given to him, the injustice of permitting him to violate his cоntract and thus to defraud his credit- оr, is too palpable to need illustration, or to require the aid of precedents to discоuntenance it. Notwithstanding the benevolent provisions of the statute in favor of unfortunate and thoughtlеss debtors,- it was far from the intention of the legislature to deprive the free citizens of the state of the right, upon due deliberation, tо make their own contracts in thеir own way, in regard to securing the рayment of debts honestly due. Creditоrs are still recognised as having some rights; and it was not the intention of the legislature to destroy them by.impairing the ■ obligation of contraсts. It frequently happens that the creditor is more in need of publiс sympathy than thé debtor. When a poor man is unjustly kept out of money due to him, the distress arising from the want of it is often greater than that caused to the other party by its collеction. If the suffering was but equal, it is plаin that one man should not suffer‘for thе follies or misfortunes of another. Every
Judgment affirmed.