ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the intersection of commercial reality, the law, and irate commercial actors. While the majority of prisoners were able to pay their debts and depart with the agreement of their creditors, there was always a minority of genuinely insolvent debtors. An act of arrest was frequently a test to determine whether an individual could pay which some were bound to fail. In response, Parliament passed a series of statutes known as the Insolvency Acts to prevent debtors from lingering in gaol eternally. This chapter explores the development of these Acts from the Interregnum to the Regency, analysing how developments in the legislation changed over time to perfect the institution’s economic contribution. However, it also discusses the creditor backlash to overly frequent passage of Insolvency Acts, demonstrating they were only partially accepted by the wider world of commerce and the hesitancy which a fraction of potential imprisoned applicants showed to seeking ‘the benefit of the Act’.
