44 Pa. 247 | Pa. | 1863
The opinion of the court was delivered, by
The appellant complains of an order of the Court of Common Pleas awarding an attachment against him for a contempt incurred by disobedience of their direction that he should pay over to the executors of Benjamin Chew, deceased, a sum of money which he holds as their trustee. He alleges that since the Act of 1842, abolishing imprisonment for debt, a court
We are referred to an opinion delivered at chambers by one of the judges of this court, and reported in Scott’s Case, 1 Grant 237. That was a case of proceeding against an executor, and so far as may be gathered from the opinion (the report containing no statement of facts), it was to enforce a decree for the payment of money due on a contract. It was quite unlike a proceeding to compel a trustee to apply trust-money. The executor was a debtor; a trustee is more. We do not regard that case as an authority compelling us to adopt such a construction of the Act of 1842, as to deny to the exception the only possible effect which it can have, and make it totally unmeaning.
The other objections urged against the award of the attachment are without force. We have not before us the proof of the service of the order to pay, nor docs the record inform us by whom service was made. It is, however, admitted that a copy of the decree was served on the defendant.' Some presumptions must be made in favour of the regularity of the proceedings. In the absence of proof to the contrary, and in view of the fact that we have no 'full copy of the record, we must pre
The decree of the Court of Common Pleas is affirmed.