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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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THE LAW OF CREDIT . Perhaps the question of credit and it 8 true responsibilities may be settled by considering how the liabilities are naturally divided ; and probably we shall find that the new law of limited liability is a step towards that division . Debts are of many kinds , some of them purely personal , others having very little relation to a particular person . l
A man may desire to borrow mouey simpy as a convenience , as he would borrow a spade or a pistol ; and in such cases the loan is properly a debt of honour , a personal allair entirely ; the neglect of payment constituting a personal offence , like ingratitude , but not properly cognisable by law . On the other hand , the borrower may make representations inducing the lender to supply the money upon grounds that are fallacious ; a case of imprudence , if the borrower speak in good faith—of fraud , if he intentionally deceive . In case of personal debt , it would appearthe offence lies , not in the inability to
, pay , but in the fraud . On the other hand , there are innumerable cases in which it is advantageous and desirable to obtain credit upon the strength of specific property . All sorts of " securities" represent such _ property ; and in respect to them the liability is necessarily limited to the amount they represent . It is a great advantage to commerce if specific amounts of capital can be placed at the disposal of third parties , without the owners of that capital becoming liable beyond the amount thus transferred . The law of
limited liability recognises this want m our commercial law , and satisfies it to a great extent . It does more—it indicates a thoroughly sound principle . All debt must he paid out of actual means . "Whatever the moral question may be , the responsibility can only be met by means ; and you have no solid foundation for credit , in a mercantile sense , except the property itself , accrued or accruing . This would imply that the liability for debt , irrespectively of fraud , should lie upon property ; and here we come to the true principle of division . The person is answerable for fraud—
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property . Apply these principles distinctly , and we shall see that we gain a further advantage , if we can separate debts of honour , which arc purely in the nature of personal promises , and as liable to be broken as pic-crust , from rights of business , which ouirht always to be
based upon actual things or transactions . We shall do so in proportion as we extend the principle of definition with respect to liability , and as we can make each thing or transaction convey itn own basis along with its responsibility . Moat securities are an example , conveying the right to the property and the responsibility of the property in one
instrument . We should apply this division strictly if wo were to recognise no personal responsibility for debt ; except when fraud is distinctly made out ; and , at the same time , if wo were to require for every debt a distinct definition , not onl y of tho transaction in respect of which the liability was incurred , but of tho means by which it was to bo met . * This ir exactly applying the principle of tho Limited Liability Act , securing the debtor ngainst indefinito liability , and the creditor against indefinitencsu in respect of means . VVoro such tho actual state ot tho law—putting debts oi
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* Throughout this paper tlio word personal \» uimmI in its ordinary nnd natural » enne , and not in ita te chnical senao na a law term .
honour out of the consideration—no man would trust another who could not present him with some kind of security for the means of ultimate payment . If we were dogmatising , we should hesitate to set down these ideas for consideration ; but we know well that some of the keenest minds in the country employ the intervals of thought devoted to the business of the day in considering this very question ; and these memoranda may at least aid in drawing forth further suggestions . Oao has already reached us , emanating from a mind as suggestive as it is noble in its sympathies : — " I have sometimes thought , " says our valued correspondent , " that the power of enforcing debts beyond a certain small amount might be confined to the Debtor's Banker , whose name should be publicly registered . The answer to a Debtor requiring credit would be , ' That is the division of labour of your Banker . Pay me ready money by a cheque on him , which I will tender before I deliver the goods . If lie , whose business it is to know your affairs and your trustworthiness , will not accept your cheque , it would be wrong in you to ask such a favour at other hands ; and if lie will accept it , the favour is not required , so that t / udcunqne via data , your proposal is inadmissible' " The development of Joint-Stock Banks , — if they conduct their affairs with prudence and avoid the temptations of fast times in trade , —promises already that something will be done to realise the suggestion , even before the expiry of that " century" to which our far-sighted friend consigns the fulfilment of his own suggestion .
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HOW TO CREATE A MUTINY . Somebody has found out the way to mako the regimental drum as useful in rousing t * i the battle of sect as drum ecclesiastic '—tho pulpit . Ireland , it seems , is too tranquil , and somebody has issued an order , enforced bv M : ijor 1 ) r Koiaks de Molleynes , for rousing a little spirit in the Kerry militia . That bodv was stationed at Limerick . It
has boon the custom in the regiment , contrary to a general rule iii Ireland , for the band to play during the inarch to churchthe soldiers being Roman Catholics . It seems that it is tlu > rule in Ireland to permit the playing of the hand only when the soldiers proceed to the Protestant establishment ; a Protestant ascendancy still having sufficient influence in military quarters to compel that mark of disgrace and inferiority for Roman Catholic soldiers . The practice , however , has in some cases been waived , and tho Globe mentions an instance : —
" Tho commanding officer of a regiment in Ireland , in which all but a dozen were Roman Catholic soldiers , caused the regiment to be marched out of barracks on Sunday in a body , with the band playing . The regiment nuulo somewhat of a detour , dropped the Catholics near their chnpel , -while the Protestants marched on to church . We do not believe that tho Christian spirit of tho soldiers oi > either side would' be injured by that considerate administration j or that Protestantism would bo lowered in the eyes of the Irish people by the conduct of the commanding officer . Certain we are that it has had no crtect on tho loyalty of a regiment ; for it lias , like its Colonel , been distinguished for its gallantry in the Crimea . "
It is not stated that there are any Protestants at all in the Kerry militia j tho custom of band-playing wan -well established ; and it had been productive of no inconvenience . But thero are those who cannot tolerate tranquillity , who cannot bo content unless their own sectarian feelings are gratified by compelling others to bo uneasy if they are not converted ; nnd it ia for people of this kind that Ireland is too tranquil .
Bv a now order , then , condemning a papistical band to silence , they succooded not only in rousing tho men to mutiny , but in rousing Limerick to a diuordorly sympathy . The occasion is tho more suitable for these proceedings , sinco wo require ovory Boldiea * that wo
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tablished by the head of the family . In Piedmont , on the other hand , constitutionalism , frank , Boldj progressive , is to Vict ' ob EMirAJfTTBB the breath of life . He dare not encourage- reaction if he would . The nation has known freedom and loved it . In this and in' many other circumstances lie the sources of natural discord between a Neapolitan and : a Piedmontese kingdom , between a national and a foreign dynasty , between a reigning hereditary Italian house and the government of a pretender who might , at any hour , witness the downfal of his family in ITrance , and resort , as did hia uncle , to the perilous friendship of Austria . Austria , at all events , if not ^ France , would profit by the inevitable hostility arising between the two states . ~ We may "be reminded , no doubt , that Naples , under the nightmare administration of King Bomba , presents already such an antagonism to Piedmont . But the Italian patriots reply , at once , " Bomba . is our enemy , not our candidate . " They conspire against him . In all human probability he "will be overthrown by them ; but why , if Italy be not utterly dead , incite foreigners to control her future ? Why perpetuate the old principle "which has already been the prolific source of sorrow and bloodshed ? Why consummate one revolution by creating the necessity for another ? Mueat , who is- a Erench prince , of the kindred of Louis Napoleon , would , if mounted on the throne of Naples , be a mere prefect of the [ French Empire—and Italy , instead of gaining an independent sovereign in place of the cashiered Bourbons , would still be under the reproach and the peril of an alien rule . Further , a country in the occupation of one foreign power , is always liable to be invaded by another . In the event of a war between Great Britain and Prance , it would be English policy , supposing a French dynasty established at Naples , to destroy and supersede it . Thus Italy , punished for the ambition of her usurpers , would remain a theatre of contention , fettered , unhappy , hopeless . And here it is particularly to be noticed that in the Muratist pamphlets there is a studious display of hostility to England . France is promised , if she will favour Mukat ' s designs , a strong ally in that future conflict which will avenge Waterloo and humble the English nation . So far , indeed , is this infamous suggestion developed , that the man who affects to offer a solution of the Italian difficulty hints at a collusion of Great Britain with Austria to sacrifice the cause of Italy . But , when the Bonapartist usurpation perishes in France , on whom would Mueat lean , if not on the Austrian Empire , as did his cowardly uncle , betraying by his act the independence of the Italian people ? It would seem to a clear mind that to bo at once the member of tho Bonapartist dynasty , and the ruler of an Italian state , would be a false position , by no means honourable , and impossible to maintain . The Spaniards expelled Joseph ; the Dutch expelled Louis ; the Neapolitans expelled Murat ; and what must Mttbat's nephew be , if under pretence of political heroism , he hazarded for Italy the terrors of a civil war ? We may understand the character of Muiiat by studying that of his friends . Is Saliceti , who recommends this " solution , " a man of the purest fame ? It is he who , once a triumvir of the Roman Republic , and a member of the Mazzini Committee in Jjonclon , advocates the candidature of Mujiat —Murat who , in tho French Constituent Assembly , voted three times for the piratical expedition to Borne , to bombard the republican city , to quench its aspirations in blood , to force tho inhabitants upon their knees
before an impotent-and malignant priesthood . Can SaIiICeti reconcile it to his patriotism that he , once a triumvir , should serve an assassin of Rome ?
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986 T M E Xi E A P E B . [ No . 290 , Satujeday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 13, 1855, page 986, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2110/page/14/
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