The Debtors Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 62) was an Act of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

that aimed to reform the powers of courts to detain debtors.

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In England, debtors owing money could be easily detained by the courts for indefinite periods, being kept in debtor's prisons. Approximately 10,000 people were imprisoned for debt each year during the nineteenth century. However, a prison term did not alleviate a person’s debt; typically, it was required that the creditor be repaid in-full before an inmate was released. Acts of parliament in 1831 and 1861 had begun the process of reform in this area, but further reform was felt necessary. Among the advocates for debtor's reform was

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, who, at the age of 12, saw his father sentenced to debtors' prison. Dickens’ novel ''

Little Dorrit ''Little Dorrit'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea prison for debtors in London. Arthur Cl ...

'' was written to encourage debt reform and was set in the

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, ...

debtors' prison where his father was incarcerated. In

Victorian England In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, the concepts of credit and debt were closely linked to that of a person’s character. Credit was not only determined based on a person’s assets and income, but also their social status within the community and their adherence to the moral standards of the time. Going into debt was seen as a moral failure, not merely an economic circumstance, and it was punished accordingly. This system typically favoured the upper classes. It was more difficult for the working classes to obtain credit; and if they went into debt, the penalties they incurred were more severe than those issued to the upper classes. County Court judges, who presided over debt and bankruptcy cases, often issued rulings based on the belief that the working classes defaulted on their debts deliberately. In contrast, the upper classes were seen as having an honest desire to repay their debt and were given more lenient treatment. Declaring bankruptcy allowed a debtor to avoid prison, but this was not an option available to everyone. Until 1861 it was limited to the merchant class. Furthermore, the cost of filing for bankruptcy was 10 pounds, which represented 10-20% of the average annual income for the common worker in the mid-1860s. The Debtors Act 1869 significantly reduced the ability of the courts to detain those in debt, although some provisions were retained. Debtors who had the means to repay their creditors but refused to do so could still be imprisoned, as could those who defaulted on payments to the court. Further reform followed through the Bankruptcy Act 1883. These Acts initially reduced the number of debtors sentenced to prison, but by the early twentieth century, the annual number had risen to 11,427, an increase of nearly 2,000 from 1869. Much of the Act has been repealed, but some provisions, such as section 5 relating to the

judgment summons Judgment summons, in English law, a summons issued under the Debtors' Act of 1869, Debtors' Act 1869, on the application of a creditor who has obtained a judgment for the payment of a sum of money by instalments or otherwise, where the order for pa ...

procedure, survive.

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References

* Omar, Paul J. (ed) (2008)
International insolvency law: themes and perspectives.
' London: Ashgate. . * Rajak, Harry. (2008) "The culture of bankruptcy," in Omar (ed) (2008). * {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1869

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