This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER III. BANKRUPTCY LEGISLATION IN THE COLONIES AND IN THE STATES PRIOR TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.* In the early stages of any novel enterprise at all hazardous to human life, as was colonization in America, the natural tendency is towards an intimate and confidential inter-dependence of those who brave the dangers. This condition prevailed in the infancy of the colonies, and in many of them the political status was absolutely communistic. In noticing this fact Doyle cites the case of Plymouth colony. The spirit of that progressive settlement encouraged the growth of industrial and commercial systems.1 As in Virginia, New Netherland and most of the other provinces all members of the community worked as an organized band under the direction of the governor; all produce was poured into the common store-house and out of it the settlers were supplied, while the surplus became the general or the profits of the company. The institution resembled the old, and, perhaps, fabulous Teutonic village or Mark, as modified by the English manorial system. Governor Hutchinson describes the social conditions of early Massachusetts, especially as they affected the administration of the laws.2 Under these primitive conditions little or no cause existed for invoking any law for the collection of debts; but this elysian state did not endure, and before long the little communities began to feel the evils which, in a proportionate degree, afflict older and larger states. As usual the reaction was oppo * "It is said the Colonial and State legislatures have been in the habit of passing laws of this description for more than a century," Marshall, C. J., in Sturges vs. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat., 122-208, (1819). 1 The industrial system and also the...