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United Kingdom legislation
The
Escape of Debtors, etc. Act 1696
was an
Act
of the
Parliament of England
(
8 & 9 Will. 3
. c. 27), the
long title
of which is
An Act For the more effectual relief of creditors in cases of escapes, and for preventing abuses in prisons and pretended privileged places.
Several locations in London, mainly
liberties
and
extra-parochial areas
, had become notorious as hideaways for debtors escaping imprisonment. Those named in the act were
Whitefriars
, the
Savoy
,
Salisbury Court
,
Ram Alley
,
Mitre Court
,
Fulwood’s Rents
[or Fuller's Rents],
Baldwins Gardens
, "
Mountague Close
or the
Minories
",
the Mint
, and "
Clink
or Deadmans Place". The privileges and immunities of these places were suspended so that the debtors could be pursued.
The Mint was a particularly well-known bolt hole and despite this act, remained so until the reign of
George I
, when a further act (9 Geo. 1 .c. 28
[1]
) was passed.
[2]
Two years later a similar act (11 Geo. 1. c. 22
[3]
) applied to "the hamlet of
Wapping-Stepney
".
[2]
The
Statute Law Revision Act 1867
repealed the later two acts in full and the 1696 act in part.
[4]
A further partial repeal of the 1696 act came under the
Statute Law Revision Act 1887
.
[5]
References
[
edit
]