20 Ga. 583 | Ga. | 1856
By the Court.
delivering the opinion-
The Counsel for the plaintiff in error seemed to consider that the word “when” in this passage has the effect to restrict the exercise of the right given to the very point of time at which the arrest takes place. But we do not think so. The word is frequently used in the sense of if or whenever ; and it is'so used, we think, in this passage.
And therefore we think, that if this Act is to govern, it was the right of the defendant arrested to avail himself of the benefit of the Act at any time after the arrest.
And this Act is not at all repealed by the “ Act for the* xelief of honest debtors.”
How, then, can it be insisted, that giving a bond under tkat Act precludes the party giving it from his rights under
We ought not to forget the words of the Constitution when we go to interpret the laws in relation to imprisonment for debt. “ The person of a debtor, when there is not strong presumption of fraud, shall not be detained in prison after delivering, bona fide, all his real and personal for the use of his. creditors, in such mannejf as shall hereafter be regulated by law.” *
The judgment is affirmed.