pens that he does not appear, either by surrendering himself to the custody of the officer, after special bail filed, or by putting in special bail, and not surrendering. If he surrender himself, what possible advantage has the plaintiff gained from the bail to the sheriff. They are discharged thereby, as well as the special bail; or if he do not surrender, but puts in special bail to the action, then no benefit is derived from the bail to the sheriff, for they are immediately released.

But he has, under this last case, bail to the action. What advantage accrues to a plaintiff from this? In the first place, the bail may surrender the defendant any how they please before judgment, and any time after judgment, if it be on or before the return day of a certain writ, called a scire facias, which is sued out against them, and which is served upon them; or some time during the term to which a summons served upon them is made returnable. As these writs against the bail are issued and served some days before they can possibly be charged for not surrendering the defendant in time, how easy is it for the bail to take their principal, and surrender him to their relief.

What is gained, then, by all this proceeding? Surely the creditor has his debtor confined in close custody, unless he can be so fortunate as to procure some friend to become his surety, that he will take the benefit of the insolvent laws at the next term, or that he will keep within the bounds of the limits prescribed by the inferior court of common pleas of the county.

And what man in any community, is hardly so fortunate? If the principal be really insolvent, scarcely will his bail wait upon him so long before a surrender, as to receive a warning from the plaintiff of his intention to make him liable if he can. And what man is there, who, because he is bail for a friend, thinks himself under any greater moral obligations to pay his debt.

The only hope for a creditor under these circumstances, and it is a forlorn hope indeed, is that the principal will abscond or secrete himself so as not to be taken and surrendered by his bail, or as a "dernier resort" to keep hope still alive, that the bail will voluntarily pay the debt for him. All the advantage, therefore, of this mode of proceeding, is accidental at the most.

We proceed now to speak of the

JUDGMENTS OF THE SEVERAL COURTS.

Judgments rendered in the common pleas and circuit courts are of the same efficacy, and have a binding force upon the property of the party over the same extent of territory, they being concurrent as to territorial jurisdiction.

The effect of them, is to bind the real estate of the party, lying and being in the county wherein the court is held in which the judgment is rendered.

All conveyances, therefore, of any real estate, made by the party against whom the judgment is rendered, after the actual entry of such judgment on the minutes or records of the court, are void and of no effect as against the judgment creditor.

The personal estate of the party, however, is not so effected by the entry of the judgment; but in order to secure a lien thereupon, it is necessary to issue an execution, and deliver the same to the proper officer for

service; and then the personal estate of the party is bound from the time of such delivery, which time is readily known by the endorsement of the officer upon the writ, which he is obliged to make at the time he receives the same. Questions of priority of lien, whether upon real or personal property, need never be agitated, (except in cases of fraud on the part of prior execution creditors,) as the endorsement of the sheriff, or other officer, can immediately settle the point.

The jurisdiction of the supreme court extending over the whole state, judgments rendered in it bind the real estate of the party, at the time above mentioned, wherever the same is situate in the state. So also in the other two courts as well as in this, whatever real estate a party acquires after the date of the judgment against him, becomes subject to that judgment, and the lien instantly attaches. They remain, after recording, in full force and effect, so that actions may be brought thereon any time within twenty years, or may during that same time be revived by scire facias; but the time during which any person entitled to the benefit of the judgment, who shall have been under the age of twenty-one years, femme covert, or insane, shall not be taken or computed as part of the said limited period of twenty years.

Of the Execution.

There are three kinds of executions recognised in the above courts, viz.: a "capias ad satisfaciendum," a "fieri facias de bonis," and a "fieri facias de bonis et terris."

The first, commanding the sheriff to take the body of the defendant, and keep him till he make satisfaction of the debt or damages, may be used in all cases against residents as well as non-residents.

This writ will detain the defendant in close custody, until he give a bond to keep within the prison limits, or a bond to apply at the next term of the court of common pleas for the benefit of the insolvent laws of the state, or until he make satisfaction of the debt or damages.

This is the highest writ known to the laws, and after it no other can issue on the same judgment, excepting in the two following cases:

First. If the debtor, after being committed to prison by virtue of an excution, shall escape thence, the creditor, at whose suit such prisoner was charged in execution at the time of his escape, may retake such prisoner by any new capias, or capias ad satisfaciendum, or sue forth any other kind of execution on the judgment, as if the body of such prisoner had never been taken in execution.

Second. That if the party charged in execution for any debt or damage recovered, die in execution, then the plaintiff may have a new execution against the goods and chattles, lands and tenements, or any of them, of the person so deceased, in as simple a manner, and to all intents and purposes, as he might have had, if the person so deceased had never been taken and charged in execution. Provided, however, that no person, at whose suit any such party shall be in execution, and die in execution, shall have or take any new execution against the lands, tenements, or hereditaments, of such party so dying in execution, which shall at any time after the judgment against such party so dying as aforesaid, have been by him sold bona fide for the payment of any of his creditors, and the money given for the lands, paid, or secured to be paid, to any of

his creditors, with their privity or consent; nor against any lands, tenements, &c. of such party so dying in execution, which shall have been sold by virtue of any other judgment and execution against him so dying as aforesaid.

The second, is a "fieri facias de bonis," and as the words import, is an execution commanding the sheriff to levy and make the debt or damages of the goods and chattles of the party.

The third is a "fieri facias de bonis et terris," and commands the officer to levy and make the debt or damages of the goods and chattles of the party, and for want of sufficient thereof, to make it on the residue of the lands, tenements, and hereditaments of the defendant.

In the above courts, executions issue immediately after the rendition of the judgment, no stay thereof being allowed, either against residents or non-residents, or whether they be freeholders or not, excepting where the party wishes to bring a writ of error; then, in order to stay the execution, a recognisance must be filed, as prescribed by the act, within fifteen days after the rendition of the judgment.

Complaints are sometimes made by the foreign suitors in the courts of New Jersey, of the great delay and tardiness accompanying their proceedings.

In the collection of claims above one hundred dollars, six, nine, and twelve months often intervene between the commencement of the action and the final receipt of the money.

The state of New Jersey being of an agricultural, rather than of a commercial character, the same necessity for a very speedy determination of a suit, does not prevail, as in those states wherein are large commercial cities. It seldom happens that the docket of any one court, in this state, becomes so crowded with cases, that they may not be disposed of at any one sitting.

In large cities and populous counties, remedies must be speedy to prevent an aggregation of suits upon the calendar, for the final determination of which, long sessions of the courts must be had. These are objectionable upon two important grounds. Those plaintiffs whose suits are placed low on the list, are compelled to be in attendance, with their witnesses, watching their turn for trial, which may not arrive for weeks, and are consequently subjected to both delay and a heavy expense. But perhaps the greatest objection to long sessions, is the detention of the jury, who are either farmers, and must necessarily incur a loss by their absence from their farms at those seasons of the year, when a day is of all importance to them, or are manufacturers and mechanics, and must suffer great detriment in business, by reason of their continued absence from their factories and work-shops.

For these reasons, it is to be regretted that, in some parts of New Jersey, particularly in the county of Essex, some more speedy way for the determination of causes has not been provided by the legislature. Some satisfaction, however, is derived from the present constitution of the courts, and the delay in their proceedings; and that consists in their certainty and regularity.

There is cause for regret after a hasty and erroneous proceeding. Amidst the multiplicity of causes which may be entrusted to any one attorney, time is given him to look well at his step before it is taken; and besides, parties are not driven to a hasty trial, before they have time to

collect their evidence and gather together their witnesses. This delay favors one party at least, towards whom it has always been the disposition of the law to extend the greater lenity, if it do not prejudice the right of the other.

Defendants, both in civil and criminal actions, have received the more indulgence from the law; and from the fact, that the presumption of the existence of the plaintiff's claim in a civil suit is against him, and of the wounded" dignity," and disturbed "peace" of the crown or the state in criminal cases, is against the king or the people. The delay, then, in the proceedings at law in New Jersey, is consistent at least with the principles of a sound and wholesome jurisprudence.

ART. VI.-MERCANTILE LAW REPORTS.

CHEATING-FRAUDULENT ENDORSEMENT OF A NOTE.-COMMISSION MERCHANTS-THEIR DUTY TO INSURE GOODS CONSIGNED TO THEM.— EASTERN LANDS-FRAUDULENT SALE.-BILLS AND NOTES.-INSURANCE.COMMON CARRIERS.- – INSURANCE-VIOLATION OF FOREIGN REVENUE LAWS CONFISCATION IN, AND JURISDICTION OF, FOREIGN COURTS.

REPORTS of the proceedings in our courts of justice, often possess an interest far deeper than the mere legal questions involved would excite. Judicial tribunals are, in fact, the true tests of character. Few business men but are called into them in some way, either as parties, witnesses, or jurors; and fewer still but feel a personal interest in the proceedings, as they may affect, injuriously or otherwise, individuals with whom they are connected by business or friendship. Many a rogue's true character has been exposed for the first time in a court where he has been called as a party or a witness; and where, in spite of his exertions, his cunning, hypocrisy, and knavery, are, for the first time, fully laid bare to the gaze of a community, where he has hitherto, perhaps, passed as an honest man.

Judicial proceedings are among the best sources of personal history. They are the history of personal transactions which would otherwise never see the light; and they are the result of tribunals erected for the express purpose of eliciting the truth.

It behooves business men to become familiar with the proceedings of the courts of justice in all our large cities, as far as circumstances will permit. And this, not for the purpose of becoming their own lawyersfor no prudent man will be willing to go forward in enterprises involving legal responsibilities, entirely on his own knowledge of the law— nor, from a morbid curiosity, to become familiar with the details of crime and wretchedness with which our courts, and especially those of inferior jurisdiction, are attended, but for the purpose of a knowledge of those great and leading principles of law with which every man should be familiar; and especially for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of personal character.

It is for these, among other reasons, that we devote a portion of each

number of our magazine to the reports of legal proceedings; and where cases which are here presented at length, involve no legal principles of importance, they may be useful in exposing knavery, detecting fraud, and placing individuals before the mercantile community in the true light, which a severe judicial examination, by persons entirely impartial, has thrown upon their characters. If after they have undergone this scrutiny, their reputation has received no stain, the world should know it; and if, after being weighed in the balance of justice, they have been found wanting, this fact also should be known by all with whom they have been or may be connected in business transactions.

These remarks are general. They are not intended to apply in particular to any court reports which have heretofore, or may hereafter, appear in this magazine. We have no feelings in this matter, except a desire to render ourselves useful to the public; and as chroniclers of passing events in the legal world, we endeavor to exercise the same truth and impartiality, that we do in making out statistical tables. Our duty is with the public, and not with individuals; and as we shall publish nothing in this department to gratify private feelings, so we shall keep back nothing which the public ought to know.

CHEATINGFRAUDULENT ENDORSEMENT OF a note.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, at the last term, in Boston, were occupied several days in the trial of the case of Thomas J. Lobdell, broker, v. Eliphalet Baker, merchant.

It was an action of trespass on the case, and the plaintiff's writ set forth that the defendant, on the 25th day of February, 1837, had in his possession a certain promissory note of hand, signed by Hicks, Lawrence, & Co., of New York, payable to James J. A. Bruce, of New York, and by him endorsed, for the sum of 2,775 dollars and eighty-nine cents, payable in five months. That the defendant, wishing to dispose of the note, and with the intent to defraud any person who might become the purchaser, procured his clerk, a minor under the age of twenty-one years, to endorse the note; and on the same day the defendant sold the note to a broker, the same being fraudulently and deceitfully procured to be endorsed as above mentioned. That the plaintiff afterwards became the purchaser of the note, relying on the said endorsement as good and effectual.

And the plaintiff, in this action, sought to recover of the defendant the full amount of the said note, and interest, together with the cost and expenses incurred by the plaintiff in an action against the above mentioned minor.

The plaintiff contended and attempted to prove, that the defendant received the note in question, and several others, amounting to about $7,000, in New York. That on his return to Boston, he asked one of his clerks if he was afraid to endorse the notes. The latter said he was not, and wrote his name as requested, and subsequently they were delivered by Mr. Baker to Benjamin Winslow, a broker, to be sold. That Winslow sold the note which was the subject of this suit, to George B. Stearns, of whom the plaintiff received it. That the sirname of the clerk being the same as that of a well known firm in New York, although his christian name was different, it was the intention of the defendant to