Report of the Committee of Commerce & Manufactures, To Whom Was..

1798. Philadelphia, 1798.. Philadelphia, 1798. Imprisonment for Debt [United States Congress]. Bell, William, Petitioner. Report of the Committee of Commerce & Manufactures, To Whom was Referred, On the 21st of November Last, The Petition of William Bell. 4th January, 1798, Committed to a Committee of the Whole House, On Monday Next. [Philadelphia?]: Published by order of the House of Representatives, [1798]. [247]-254 pp. Octavo (8-3/4" x 5-1/4"). Disbound pamphlet, top-edge uncut, fore and bottom edges untrimmed. Moderate toning, light foxing and small faint stain to lower outer corner. $250. * Bell was the subject of a civil suit after being unable to pay a customs bond. He petitioned the government for relief under a 1796 statute providing remedies against imprisonment for debt, but the statute lacked clarity on whether those remedies could be applied to government debts. The committee, chaired by Edward Livingston, concluded that further legislative remedies from Congress were unnecessary and that Bell could not "obtain the relief he desires." OCLC locates 9 copies, one in a law library (University of Pennsylvania). Evans, American Bibliography 34751.