Southern Chautauqua County Federal Credit Union v. Moore

OPINION OF THE COURT

Frank A. Sedita, III, J.

All of these cases present a common question for the court, namely, whether a warrant of arrest should issue for someone who owes a private debt.

Second only to life itself, liberty is the most cherished right of every American citizen. The crown’s deprivation of that inalienable right was cited as one of the reasons for declaring our independence from Great Britain. The moral duty to grant liberty to those who continued to be deprived of it became the principal basis for the American Civil War.

Deprivation of one’s liberty for nonpayment of a debt…