Jordan v. Donahue

We have been referred to cases in Pennsylvania.

The practice there seems to be founded on the ancient English statutes by which merchants, &c., could before certain magistrates acknowledge a debt, and their property and lands were bound by it, and if the debt was not paid at the time, the plaintiff was entitled to execution forthwith, and to have the lands de livered to him, and in case of death of the debtor, to scire facias, and to bave the lands in the hands of the heir, but not the body of the heir, delivered. By statute 23 Henry VIII. cap. 6, this privilege was extended to all persons,…