Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large, 1763.djvu/123

Acknowledging of a Statute-Merchant.^[1]the Roll, and by the Bill, that the Debt was knowledged, and that the Day of Payment is expired, the Mayor shall incontinent cause the Moveables of the Debtor to be sold, as far as the Debt doth amount, by the praising of honest Men, as Chattels, Burgages devisable, until the whole Sum of the Debt; and the Money, without Delay, shall be paid to the Creditor. (8) And if the Mayor can find no Buyer, he shall cause the Moveables to be delivered to the Creditor at a reasonable Price, as much as doth amount to the Sum of the Debt, in Allowance of his Debt; The Seal of the Statute.(9) and the King's Seal shall be put unto the Sale and Deliverance of the Burgages devisable for a perpetual Witness. (10) And if the Debtor have no Moveables within the Jurisdiction of the Mayor, whereupon the Debt may be levied, but hath some otherwhere within the Realm, then shall the Mayor send the Recognisance made before him and the Clerk aforesaid unto the Chancellor, under the King's Seal; A Certificate of the Statute into Chancery.^[2](11) and the Chancellor shall direct a Writ A Certificate of unto the Sheriff, in whose Bailiwick the Moveables of the Debtor be, and the Sheriff shall cause him to agree with his Creditor in such Form as the Mayor should have done in case that the Moveables, of the Debtor had been within his Power. The Goods extended delivered to the Praisers.(12) And let them that shall praise the moveable Goods, to be delivered unto the Creditor, take good heed, that they do set a reasonable Price upon them; for if they do set an over high Price for favour born to the Debtor, and to the Damage of the Creditor, then shall the Thing so praised be delivered unto themselves at such Price as they have limited, and they shall be forthwith answerable unto the Creditor for his Debt. ^[3](13) And if the Debtor will say, that his moveable Goods were delivered or sold for less than they were worth, yet shall he have no Remedy thereby; for when the Mayor or the Sheriff hath sold the moveable Goods lawfully to him that offered most, he may account it his own Folly, that he did not sell his own moveable Goods, himself before the Day of his Suit (when he might, and would not) and have levied the Money with his own Hands. The Debtor imprisoned.^[4](14) And if the Debtor have no Moveables whereupon the Debt may be levied, then shall his> Body be taken where it may be found, and kept in Prison, until that he have made Agreement, or his Friends for him; The Debtor's Diet.(15) and if he have not wherewith he may sustain himself in Prison, the Creditor shall find him Bread and Water, to the end that he die not in Prison for default of Sustenance, the which Costs the Debtor shall recompense him with his Debt, before that he be let out of Prison. The Creditor a Stranger.(16) And if the Creditor be a Merchant-stranger, he shall remain at the Costs of the Debtor for so long Time as, he tarrieth about the Suit of his Debt, and until the moveable Goods of the Debtor be sold or delivered unto him. The Creditors Pledges.(17) And if the Creditor do not take the Debtor alone for the Surety of his Payment, by reason whereof Pledges or Mainpernors be founden, then those Pledges or Mainpernors shall come before the Mayor and Clerk, abovesaid, and shall bind themselves by Writings and Recognisances, as afore is said of the Debtor. (18) And in like Manner if the Debt be not paid at the Day limited, such Execution shall be awarded, against the Pledges or Mainpernors, as before is said of the Debtor.

II. Provided nevertheless, That so long as the Debt may be fully taken, and levied of the Goods