Chamberlain v. Mallard
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an action of assumpsit brought by the under-keeper of the gaol' in Worcester to recover the expense of boarding one Parker, a poor debtor confined in close prison.
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This was an action of assumpsit brought by the under-keeper of the gaol' in Worcester to recover the expense of boarding one Parker, a poor debtor confined in close prison. In a case stated it appeared, that after an execution against Parker in favor of Mallard had been returned with a non est inventus, and after a scire facias had been sued out against Parker’s bail, but before final judgment thereon, the bail committed him to gaol in Worcester, conformably to the provisions of St. 1817, c. 146 ; that Parker having claimed relief as a pauper, the plaintiif called on the attorney of the…
1Opinion of the Court
Parker C. J.,
in giving the opinion of the Court, said that the debtor having been committed after the judgment, he could not be considered as imprisoned on mesne process.
The intention of the legislature was to charge the creditor with the board of the debtor, when the imprisonment was by his direction ; not where it was without his knowledge or against his will. Here the commitment was by the bail in the exercise of his privilege. This is neither within the words nor the spirit of the statute, and if the legislature *471intended to embrace this case, they have not expressed their intention.1
Plaint…
2Cited by1 opinion
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