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100-515: Daniel Defoe ( / d ɪ ˈ f oʊ / ; born Daniel Foe ; c. 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English novelist, journalist, merchant, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe , published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations. He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel , and helped to popularise

200-525: A Gaelic translation for the town's name. The Gaelic Glas could mean grey or green, while chu means dog or hollow. Glaschu probably means "Green Hollow". The "Dear Green Place", like much of Scotland, was a hotbed of unrest against the Union. The local Tron minister urged his congregation "to up and anent for the City of God". The "Dear Green Place" and "City of God" required government troops to put down

300-407: A court-ordered judgment would be incarcerated in these prisons until they had worked off their debt via labour or secured outside funds to pay the balance. The product of their labour went towards both the costs of their incarceration and their accrued debt. Increasing access and lenience throughout the history of bankruptcy law have made prison terms for unaggravated indigence obsolete over most of

400-595: A debtor will actually be prosecuted varies from state to state. This modern use of the term debtors' prison arguably has its start with precedent rulings in 1970, 1971 and 1983 by the U.S. Supreme Court, and passage of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 . In 1970, the Court ruled in Williams v. Illinois that extending a maximum prison term because a person is too poor to pay fines or court costs violates

500-785: A failure to pay a fine without first inquiring into a person's ability to pay and considering whether there are adequate alternatives to imprisonment. A year-long study released in 2010 of fifteen states with the highest prison populations by the Brennan Center for Justice , found that all fifteen states sampled have jurisdictions that arrest people for failing to pay debt or appear at debt-related hearings. The study identified four causes that lead to debtors' prison type arrests for debts: In an article in The American Conservative , Michael Shindler argues that another factor responsible for debtors' prison type arrests

600-460: A house of prayer the Devil always builds a chapel there; And 't will be found, upon examination, the latter has the largest congregation." – Defoe's The True-Born Englishman , 1701 After his three days in the pillory, Defoe went into Newgate Prison . Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer , brokered his release in exchange for Defoe's cooperation as an intelligence agent for

700-449: A judge when people refuse to (appear as) witness, or don't pay off their fines or debts. The imprisonment does not cancel the due amount and interest. In England during the 18th and 19th centuries, 10,000 people were imprisoned for debt each year. A prison term did not alleviate a person's debt, however; an inmate was typically required to repay the creditor in-full before being released. In England and Wales , debtors' prisons varied in

800-442: A life of trials but ultimately an ending in reward. Although Moll struggles with the morality of some of her actions and decisions, religion seems to be far from her concerns throughout most of her story. However, like Robinson Crusoe, she finally repents. Moll Flanders is an important work in the development of the novel, as it challenged the common perception of femininity and gender roles in 18th-century British society. Although it

900-684: A more genuine conversion experience. In the opening pages of The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe , the author describes how Crusoe settled in Bedfordshire , married and produced a family, and that when his wife died, he went off on these further adventures. Bedford is also the place where the brother of "H. F." in A Journal of the Plague Year retired to avoid the danger of the plague, so that by implication, if these works were not fiction, Defoe's family met Crusoe in Bedford, from whence

1000-604: A number of books decrying the breakdown of the social order, such as The Great Law of Subordination Considered (1724) and Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business (1725) and works on the supernatural, like The Political History of the Devil (1726), A System of Magick (1727) and An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions (1727). His works on foreign travel and trade include A General History of Discoveries and Improvements (1727) and Atlas Maritimus and Commercialis (1728). Perhaps his most significant work, apart from

1100-410: A person's identity, but had different rules than criminal trials. It was more similar to the modern enforcement of sentences ( Strafvollzug ) e.g. the debtor would be able to work off their debt for a certain number of days, graduated by how much they owed. The North German Confederation eliminated debtors' prisons on May 29, 1868. In Dutch law gijzeling (lit.: take in as hostage) can be ordered by

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1200-511: A problematic notion of becoming a "gentleman." Also in 1722, Defoe wrote Moll Flanders , another first-person picaresque novel of the fall and eventual redemption, both material and spiritual, of a lone woman in 17th-century England. The titular heroine appears as a whore, bigamist and thief, lives in The Mint , commits adultery and incest, and yet manages to retain the reader's sympathy. Her savvy manipulation of both men and wealth earns her

1300-405: A rule that no definite proof is required to prove someone guilty of something but a set of proof, thus it’s only required that it’s likely someone is willfully not paying his fine rather than having to prove what exact money he does own (legally named revenues occultes ) , this can lead to someone insolvent being sentenced for being unable to pay his fine as soon as a small mismatch exists between

1400-476: A secret agent, and to secure acquiescence by using "underhand methods to predispose Scots' opinion in favour of" the Treaty of Union . He was conscious of the risk to himself. Thanks to books such as The Letters of Daniel Defoe (edited by G. H. Healey, Oxford 1955), far more is known about his activities than is usual with such agents. His first reports included vivid descriptions of violent demonstrations against

1500-533: A signatory to the Declaration of Independence , spent some time in a debtors' prison while still serving as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Fellow signatory Robert Morris spent three years, from 1798 to 1801, in the Prune Street Debtors' Prison, Philadelphia Henry Lee III, better known as Henry "Light-Horse" Lee , a Revolutionary War general and father of Robert E. Lee,

1600-585: A single cell. The father of the English author Charles Dickens was sent to one of these prisons (the Marshalsea ), which were often described in Dickens's novels. He became an advocate for debt prison reform, and his novel Little Dorrit dealt directly with this issue. The Debtors' Act 1869 ( 32 & 33 Vict. c. 62) limited the ability of the courts to sentence debtors to prison, but it did not entirely prohibit them from doing so. Debtors who had

1700-433: A tradesman's daughter by a nobleman was also common. Overall, Defoe demonstrated a high respect for tradesmen , being one himself. Not only did Defoe elevate individual British tradesmen to the level of gentleman , but he praised the entirety of British trade as a superior system to other systems of trade. Trade, Defoe argues, is a much better catalyst for social and economic change than war. Defoe also argued that through

1800-469: A valuable contemporary source for their own works. Defoe took pains to give his history an air of objectivity by giving some space to arguments against the Union, but always kept the last word for himself. He disposed of the main Union opponent, Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun , by ignoring him. Nor does he account for the deviousness of the Duke of Hamilton , the official leader of the various factions opposed to

1900-576: A village just north of London, where he is believed to have attended the Dissenting church there . He lived on Church Street, Stoke Newington, at what is now nos. 95–103. During this period, the English government persecuted those who chose to worship outside the established Church of England . Defoe entered the world of business as a general merchant, dealing at different times in hosiery, general woollen goods, and wine. His ambitions were great and he

2000-535: A week without interruption until 1713. Defoe was amazed that a man as gifted as Harley left vital state papers lying in the open, and warned that he was almost inviting an unscrupulous clerk to commit treason; his warnings were fully justified by the William Gregg affair. When Harley was ousted from the ministry in 1708, Defoe continued writing the Review to support Godolphin , then again to support Harley and

2100-672: A week, written mostly by himself. This was the main mouthpiece of the English Government promoting the Act of Union 1707 . Defoe began his campaign in The Review and other pamphlets aimed at English opinion, claiming that it would end the threat from the north, gaining for the Treasury an "inexhaustible treasury of men", a valuable new market increasing the power of England. By September 1706, Harley ordered Defoe to Edinburgh as

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2200-625: Is far superior. Defoe also implied that trade was the backbone of the British economy : "estate's a pond, but trade's a spring." In the work, Defoe praised the practicality of trade not only within the economy but the social stratification as well. Defoe argued that most of the British gentry was at one time or another inextricably linked with the institution of trade, either through personal experience, marriage or genealogy. Oftentimes younger members of noble families entered into trade, and marriages to

2300-743: Is often due to ignorance." In a 2019 report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law argues that debtors' prisons are likely to appear in states like Arkansas where many people live in poverty and are unable to pay fines and fees, where poor record-keeping exacerbates challenges faced by defendants, and where arrest warrants and drivers license suspensions make it even harder for people to pay off court-imposed debt. In 2014, National Public Radio (NPR) reported that there were still cases of judges imprisoning people who have not paid court fees. The American Civil Liberties Union has been challenging such policies since 2009. In September, 2015, in

2400-541: Is relating her story. In Defoe's writings, especially in his fiction, are traits that can be seen across his works. Defoe was well known for his didacticism , with most of his works aiming to convey a message of some kind to the readers (typically a moral one, stemming from his religious background). Connected to Defoe's didacticism is his use of the genre of spiritual autobiography , particularly in Robinson Crusoe . Another common feature of Defoe's fictional works

2500-462: Is that "Whereas indigent defendants have a Sixth Amendment right to a court-appointed lawyer in criminal cases involving incarceration, indigent debtors in state and local courts have no one to defend them against the error and abuse that characterizes debt collection litigation." Similarly, Shindler writes, regarding explicitly illegal debtors' prison type arrests ordered by local judges,"the reason these officials engage in this sort of excessive behavior

2600-423: Is that he claimed they were true stories of their subjects. Defoe is known to have used at least 198 pen names . It was a very common practice in eighteenth-century novel publishing to initially publish works under a pen name , with most other authors at the time publishing their works anonymously. As a result of the anonymous ways in which most of his works were published, it has been a challenge for scholars over

2700-456: Is undersigned by the initials "H. F.", suggesting the author's uncle Henry Foe as its primary source. It is a historical account of the events based on extensive research and written as if by an eyewitness, even though Defoe was only about five years old when it occurred. Colonel Jack (1722) follows an orphaned boy from a life of poverty and crime to prosperity in the colonies, military and marital imbroglios, and religious conversion, driven by

2800-600: The Cambridge History of English Literature , the section on Defoe by author William P. Trent attributes 370 works to Defoe. J.R. Moore generated the largest list of Defoe's work, with approximately five hundred and fifty works that he attributed to Defoe. Defoe died on 24 April 1731, in Ropemakers Alley, not far from where he was born in Cripplegate, probably while in hiding from his creditors. He

2900-658: The Coldbath Fields Prison , Fleet Prison , Giltspur Street Compter , King's Bench Prison , Marshalsea Prison , Poultry Compter , and Wood Street Counter . The most famous was the Clink prison , which had a debtor's entrance in Stoney Street. This prison gave rise to the British slang term for being incarcerated in any prison, hence "in the clink". Its location also gave rise to the term for being financially embarrassed, "stoney broke". Imprisonment for

3000-646: The Legion's Memorial to Robert Harley , then Speaker of the House of Commons —and his subsequent employer—while flanked by a guard of sixteen gentlemen of quality. It demanded the release of the Kentish petitioners, who had asked Parliament to support the king in an imminent war against France. The death of William III in 1702 once again created a political upheaval, as the king was replaced by Queen Anne who immediately began her offensive against Nonconformists . Defoe

3100-653: The Organization of American States . Article 7 (7) of the pact affirms "no one shall be detained for debt. This principle shall not limit the orders of a competent judicial authority issued for nonfulfillment of duties of support." Currently, 24 countries from the Western Hemisphere are parties to that treaty. In 1976 Article 11 of the ICCPR – International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – came into effect stating, "No one shall be imprisoned merely on

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3200-620: The Tories in the Tory ministry of 1710–1714. The Tories fell from power with the death of Queen Anne , but Defoe continued doing intelligence work for the Whig government, writing "Tory" pamphlets that undermined the Tory point of view. Not all of Defoe's pamphlet writing was political. One pamphlet was originally published anonymously, entitled A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal

3300-679: The "willful" terminology is subject to individual mens rea determination by a judge, rather than statute, and that since this presents the potential for judges to incarcerate legitimately indigent individuals, it amounts to a de facto "debtors' prison" system. During Europe's Middle Ages , debtors, both men and women, were locked up together in a single, large cell until their families paid their debt. Debt prisoners often died of diseases contracted from others interned in debtors' prison for many years. Some debt prisoners were released to become serfs or indentured servants ( debt bondage ) until they paid off their debt in labor. Imprisonment for debt

3400-594: The Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 (c 18), though in practice imprisonment for the non-payment of debts had ceased to be relevant in Scotland since the passing of s.4 of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1880 (c 34). Imprisonment remains competent in cases in which a court order, or order ad factum praestandum is breached by a debtor. While imprisonment for debt was competent in Scots law, it was provided that debtors who were within

3500-556: The English doctrine of the Sovereignty of Parliament , for example, telling the Scots that they could have complete confidence in the guarantees in the Treaty. Some of his pamphlets were purported to be written by Scots, misleading even reputable historians into quoting them as evidence of Scottish opinion of the time. The same is true of a massive history of the Union which Defoe published in 1709 and which some historians still treat as

3600-674: The French plenipotentiary who negotiated the Treaty of Utrecht (1713); and A Continuation of the Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy (1718), a satire of European politics and religion, ostensibly written by a Muslim in Paris. From 1719 to 1724, Defoe published the novels for which he is famous (see below). In the final decade of his life, he also wrote conduct manuals, including Religious Courtship (1722), The Complete English Tradesman (1726) and The New Family Instructor (1727). He published

3700-617: The Ministry for Health. It remained in use as a prison until the nineteenth century. In line with the European Convention Act, no person is to be deprived of his liberty because of the incapability to fulfill a contractual obligation. Debtors in the United Arab Emirates , including Dubai , are imprisoned for failing to pay their debts. This is a common practice in the country. Banks are not sympathetic to

3800-548: The Next Day after her Death to One Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury The 8th of September, 1705 . It deals with the interaction between the spiritual realm and the physical realm and was most likely written in support of Charles Drelincourt 's The Christian Defence against the Fears of Death (1651). It describes Mrs. Bargrave's encounter with her old friend Mrs. Veal after she had died. It is clear from this piece and other writings that

3900-712: The Protocol No. 4 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms . Article 1 of the protocol states that "no one shall be deprived of his liberty merely on the ground of inability to fulfil a contractual obligation." Currently, 42 states have ratified the protocol. In 1969 the American Convention on Human Rights , also known as the Pact of San José, was adopted by members of

4000-533: The Saxon constitution, became the catchword for public law debtors' prison. In the early modern era, the debtor's detainment or citizen's arrest remained valid in Germany. Sometimes it was used as a tool to compel payment, other times it was used to secure the arrest of an individual and ensure a trial against them in order to garnish wages, replevin or a form of trover . This practice was particularly disgraceful to

4100-562: The Tories. In exchange for such cooperation with the rival political side, Harley paid some of Defoe's outstanding debts, improving his financial situation considerably. Within a week of his release from prison, Defoe witnessed the Great Storm of 1703 , which raged through the night of 26/27 November. It caused severe damage to London and Bristol , uprooted millions of trees, and killed more than 8,000 people, mostly at sea. The event became

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4200-655: The Union, who seemingly betrayed his former colleagues when he switched to the Unionist/Government side in the decisive final stages of the debate. In 1709, Defoe authored a lengthy book entitled The History of the Union of Great Britain , an Edinburgh publication printed by the Heirs of Anderson . Defoe is cited twice in the book as its author, and gives details of the events leading up to the Acts of Union 1707 , dating as far back as 6 December 1604, when King James I

4300-507: The Union. "A Scots rabble is the worst of its kind", he reported. Defoe reportedly "became fearful of being lynched after a threatening crowd surged up the High Street shouting 'No Union! No English dogs!'" Years later John Clerk of Penicuik , a leading Unionist, wrote in his memoirs that it was not known at the time that Defoe had been sent by Godolphin: … to give a faithful account to him from time to time how everything past here. He

4400-487: The United States will merely result in a default judgment being rendered in absentia if the defendant willfully declines to appear by law, a substantial number of indigent debtors are legally incarcerated for the crime of failing to appear at civil debt proceedings as ordered by a judge. In this case, the crime is not indigence, but disobeying the judge's order to appear before the court. Critics argue that

4500-544: The advent of telecommunications , those with access to a printing press and a supply of paper often used pamphlets to widely disseminate their ideas. Thomas Paine 's pamphlets were influential in the history of the American Revolutionary War . 17th-century Dutch naval officer Witte de With wrote papers mocking and praising his fellow officers. Poet and polemicist John Milton published pamphlets as well. Jonathan Edwards and John Calvin changed

4600-635: The amount of freedom they allowed the debtor. With a little money, a debtor could pay for some freedoms; some prisons allowed inmates to conduct business and to receive visitors; others (including the Fleet and King's Bench Prisons ) even allowed inmates to live a short distance outside the prison – a practice known as the 'Liberty of the Rules' – and the Fleet even tolerated clandestine ' Fleet Marriages '. Life in these prisons, however,

4700-421: The attributions of Defoe's novels came long after his death. Notably, Moll Flanders and Roxana were published anonymously for over fifty years until Francis Noble named Daniel Defoe on their title pages in edition publication in 1775 and 1774. Biographer P. N. Furbank and W. R. Owens built upon this canon, also relying on what they believed could be Defoe's work, without a means to be absolutely certain. In

4800-524: The authorities. In India, courts have been known to jail financial defaulters as a way to coerce them to pay back their private creditors, or the state. For example, in the case of Subrata Roy , his bail was conditional on him paying back large sums to the investors or the regulators. An eighteenth century debtors' prison is found within the Castellania in Valletta , Malta, now used as offices by

4900-576: The bounds of Holyrood Park (the whole of which was deemed a sanctuary) were exempt, and accordingly, till the abolition of imprisonment for debt, many debtors lived in lodgings within the bounds of the park. Such people were subject to the Bailie of the Park, who had power, in certain cases, to imprison them himself, in the Abbey Jail. Ιmprisonment for debts, whether to the tax office or to a private bank,

5000-419: The coercive arrest ( Pressionshaft ), and got rid of the many arbitrary sanctions that were not universal. In some areas (like Nürnberg) the debtor could sell or redistribute their debt. In most of the cities, the towers and city fortifications functioned as jails. For certain sanctions there were designated prisons, hence some towers being called debtors' prison ( Schuldturm ). The term Schuldturm , outside of

5100-531: The course of Christianity with their pamphlets. This job-, occupation-, or vocation-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Debtors%27 prison A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt . Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses ) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe . Destitute people who were unable to pay

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5200-473: The debtors once they are in prison, so many just choose to leave the country where they can negotiate for settlements later. The practice of fleeing UAE to avoid arrest because of debt defaults is considered a viable option to customers who are unable to meet their obligations. Many Colonial American jurisdictions established debtors' prisons using the same models used in Great Britain. James Wilson ,

5300-578: The discharge of the punitive fine. According to legend, the publication of his poem Hymn to the Pillory caused his audience at the pillory to throw flowers instead of the customary harmful and noxious objects and to drink to his health. The truth of this story is questioned by most scholars, although John Robert Moore later said that "no man in England but Defoe ever stood in the pillory and later rose to eminence among his fellow men". "Wherever God erects

5400-465: The expansion of the British Empire and British mercantile influence, Britain would be able to "increase commerce at home" through job creations and increased consumption . He wrote in the work that increased consumption, by laws of supply and demand, increases production and in turn raises wages for the poor therefore lifting part of British society further out of poverty. Published when Defoe

5500-467: The face of total debts that may have amounted to £17,000, was forced to declare bankruptcy. He died with little wealth and evidently embroiled in lawsuits with the royal treasury. Following his release from debtors' prison , he probably travelled in Europe and Scotland, and it may have been at this time that he traded wine to Cadiz , Porto and Lisbon . By 1695, he was back in England, now formally using

5600-536: The form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson . Defoe wrote many political tracts, was often in trouble with the authorities, and spent a period in prison. Intellectuals and political leaders paid attention to his fresh ideas and sometimes consulted him. Defoe was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than three hundred works—books, pamphlets, and journals—on diverse topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology and

5700-596: The geography of Africa and some of its fauna does not use the language or knowledge of a fiction writer and suggests an eyewitness experience. Memoirs of a Cavalier (1720) is set during the Thirty Years' War and the English Civil War . A Journal of the Plague Year , published in 1722, can be read both as novel and as nonfiction. It is an account of the Great Plague of London in 1665, which

5800-618: The government is still unclear, as courts continue to have this ability for criminal acts. The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 , as amended, contains provisions for criminal penalties, including imprisonment, if someone defaults on a debt or a payment obligation. Section 28A of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (As amended by the Securities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014) contains provisions for penalties, including imprisonment, for failure to pay back investors or

5900-401: The government. He made use of his Scottish experience to write his Tour thro' the whole Island of Great Britain , published in 1726, where he admitted that the increase of trade and population in Scotland which he had predicted as a consequence of the Union was "not the case, but rather the contrary". Defoe's description of Glasgow (Glaschu) as a "Dear Green Place" has often been misquoted as

6000-488: The ill-fated Monmouth Rebellion but gained a pardon, by which he escaped the Bloody Assizes of Judge George Jeffreys . Queen Mary and her husband William III were jointly crowned in 1689, and Defoe became one of William's close allies and a secret agent. Some of the new policies led to conflict with France, thus damaging prosperous trade relationships for Defoe. In 1692, he was arrested for debts of £700 and, in

6100-439: The imprisonment of debtors under federal law in 1833 leaving the practice of debtors' prisons to states. While the United States no longer has brick and mortar debtors' prisons, or "jails for debtors" of private debts, the term "debtor's prison" in modern times sometimes refers to the practice of imprisoning indigent criminal defendants for matters related to either a fine or a fee imposed in criminal judgments. To what extent

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6200-608: The information in these books was gathered. Defoe went to school in Newington Green with a friend named Caruso. The novel has been assumed to be based in part on the story of the Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk , who spent four years stranded in the Juan Fernández Islands , but his experience is inconsistent with the details of the narrative. The island Selkirk lived on, Más a Tierra (Closer to Land)

6300-460: The life of Hai ebn Yokdhan . Defoe's next novel was Captain Singleton (1720), an adventure story whose first half covers a traversal of Africa which anticipated subsequent discoveries by David Livingstone and whose second half taps into the contemporary fascination with piracy . The novel has been commended for its sensitive depiction of the close relationship between the hero and his religious mentor, Quaker William Walters. Its description of

6400-490: The means to pay their debt, but did not do so, could still be incarcerated for up to six weeks, as could those who defaulted on debts to the court. Initially, there was a significant reduction in the number of debtors imprisoned following the passage of the 1869 Act. By 1870, the total number of debtors imprisoned decreased by almost 2,000, dropping from 9,759 in 1869 to 6,605 in 1870. However, by 1905 that number had increased to 11,427. Some of London's debtors' prisons were

6500-412: The money being spent and the money on the tax return. Its length is limited following the amount of the fine and aims to pressure the debtor to pay his fines, consequently the owed money stays owed to the State. After serving a contrainte , the debt or fine must still be paid. In the late Middle Ages, and at the beginning of the modern era, public law was codified in Germany. This served to standardize

6600-409: The name "Defoe" and serving as a "commissioner of the glass duty", responsible for collecting taxes on bottles. In 1696, he ran a tile and brick factory in what is now Tilbury in Essex and lived in the parish of Chadwell St Mary nearby. As many as 545 titles have been attributed to Defoe, including satirical poems, political and religious pamphlets, and volumes. Defoe's first notable publication

6700-416: The non-payment of debt was competent at Scots common law, but the effect of imprisonment for such stood in marked contrast to the position in England even after the execution of the Treaty of Union in 1707. As Lord Dunedin observed in 1919, it was 'in direct contradistinction to the view of the law in England, that imprisonment was in no sense a satisfaction of the debt'; the purpose for imprisonment for debt

6800-421: The novels, is A Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724–1727), which provided a panoramic survey of British trade on the eve of the Industrial Revolution . Published in 1726, The Complete English Tradesman is an example of Defoe's political works. In the work, Defoe discussed the role of the tradesman in England in comparison to tradesmen internationally, arguing that the British system of trade

6900-408: The payment of the debt within this stipulated time-period, the creditor could have the debtor 'put to the horn' by a messenger-at-arms. The execution of horning would have to be registered in the General Register of Hornings in Edinburgh. On registration, a warrant for the arrest of the debtor could then be issued. The formal process of 'horning' was not formally abolished until the passing of s.89 of

7000-550: The political portion of Defoe's life was by no means his only focus. In despair during his imprisonment for the seditious libel case, Defoe wrote to William Paterson , the London Scot and founder of the Bank of England and part instigator of the Darien scheme , who was in the confidence of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer , leading minister and spymaster in the English government . Harley accepted Defoe's services and released him in 1703. He immediately published The Review , which appeared weekly, then three times

7100-473: The publication of Robinson Crusoe in 1719. Defoe comments on the tendency to attribute tracts of uncertain authorship to him in his apologia Appeal to Honour and Justice (1715), a defence of his part in Harley's Tory ministry (1710–1714). Other works that anticipate his novelistic career include The Family Instructor (1715), a conduct manual on religious duty; Minutes of the Negotiations of Monsr. Mesnager (1717), in which he impersonates Nicolas Mesnager ,

7200-632: The right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment . During 1971 in Tate v. Short , the Court found it unconstitutional to impose a fine as a sentence and then automatically convert it into "a jail term solely because the defendant is indigent and cannot forthwith pay the fine in full." And in the 1983 ruling for Bearden v. Georgia , the Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment bars courts from revoking probation for

7300-405: The rioters tearing up copies of the Treaty at almost every mercat cross in Scotland. When Defoe visited in the mid-1720s, he claimed that the hostility towards his party was "because they were English and because of the Union, which they were almost universally exclaimed against". The extent and particulars are widely contested concerning Defoe's writing in the period from the Tory fall in 1714 to

7400-645: The subject of Defoe's The Storm (1704), which includes a collection of witness accounts of the tempest. Many regard it as one of the world's first examples of modern journalism. In the same year, he set up his periodical A Review of the Affairs of France , which supported the Harley Ministry , chronicling the events of the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–1714). The Review ran three times

7500-621: The summer or early autumn of 1660 considered the most likely. His father, James Foe, was a prosperous tallow chandler of probable Flemish descent, and a member of the Worshipful Company of Butchers . In Defoe's early childhood, he lived through several significant historical events: in 1665, seventy thousand were killed by the Great Plague of London , and the next year, the Great Fire of London left only Defoe's and two other houses standing in his neighbourhood. In 1667, when he

7600-590: The supernatural. He was also a pioneer of business journalism and economic journalism. Daniel Foe was probably born in Fore Street in the parish of St Giles Cripplegate , London. Defoe later added the aristocratic-sounding "De" to his name, and on occasion made the false claim of descent from a family named De Beau Faux. "De" is also a common prefix in Flemish surnames. His birthdate and birthplace are uncertain, and sources offer dates from 1659 to 1662, with

7700-637: The town of Bowdon, Georgia , a sitting municipal judge, Richard A. Diment, was surreptitiously recorded threatening defendants with jail time for traffic violations if they did not provide immediate payment. The incidents caused the Bowdon Municipal Court to be closed for a month in order to implement changes in policy. In 1963, members of the Council of Europe , an intergovernmental human rights organization based in Strasbourg , adopted

7800-400: The widespread practice, possibly for the first time. Increasing disfavor over debtors' prisons along with the advent and early development of U.S. bankruptcy laws led states to begin restricting imprisonment for most civil debts. At that time growing use of the poorhouse and poor farm were also seen as institutional alternatives for debtors' prisons. The United States ostensibly eliminated

7900-637: The world. Since the late 20th century, the term debtors' prison has also sometimes been applied by critics to criminal justice systems in which a court can sentence someone to prison over willfully unpaid criminal fees , usually following the order of a judge . For example, in some jurisdictions within the United States , people can be held in contempt of court and jailed after willful non-payment of child support , garnishments, confiscations, fines, or back taxes. Additionally, though properly served civil duties over private debts in nations such as

8000-499: The writer's opinions: to articulate a political ideology, for example, or to encourage people to vote for a particular politician. Early modern news pamphlets also made extensive use of stock imagery to describe, highlight, or criticize various social and cultural events and issues. During times of political unrest, such as the French Revolution , pamphleteers were highly active in attempting to shape public opinion. Before

8100-502: The years to properly credit Defoe for all of the works that he wrote in his lifetime. If counting only works that Defoe published under his own name, or his known pen name "the author of the True-Born Englishman," there would be about 75 works that could be attributed to him. Beyond these 75 works, scholars have used a variety of strategies to determine what other works should be attributed to Defoe. Writer George Chalmers

8200-582: Was An Essay Upon Projects , a series of proposals for social and economic improvement, published in 1697. From 1697 to 1698, he defended the right of King William III to a standing army during disarmament, after the Treaty of Ryswick (1697) had ended the Nine Years' War (1688–1697). His most successful poem, The True-Born Englishman (1701), defended William against xenophobic attacks from his political enemies in England, and English anti-immigration sentiments more generally. In 1701, Defoe presented

8300-726: Was a natural target, and his pamphleteering and political activities resulted in his arrest and placement in a pillory on 31 July 1703, principally on account of his December 1702 pamphlet entitled The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters; Or, Proposals for the Establishment of the Church , purporting to argue for their extermination. In it, he ruthlessly satirised both the high church Tories and those Dissenters who hypocritically practised so-called "occasional conformity", such as his Stoke Newington neighbour Sir Thomas Abney . It

8400-473: Was able to buy a country estate and a ship (as well as civets to make perfume), though he was rarely out of debt. On 1 January 1684, Defoe married Mary Tuffley at St Botolph's Aldgate . She was the daughter of a London merchant, and brought with her a dowry of £3,700—a huge amount by the standards of the day. Given his debts and political difficulties, the marriage may have been troubled, but it lasted 47 years and produced eight children. In 1685, Defoe joined

8500-591: Was also practised in Islam. Debtors who refused to pay their debts could be detained for several months in order to exert pressure on them. If they proved insolvent, they were released before being placed under legal guardianship. Article 1 of Protocol 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits the imprisonment of people for breach of a contract. Turkey has signed but never ratified Protocol 4. Debtor's prison, both for private and State debt,

8600-498: Was common in Ancien Régime France. It was suppressed during the French Revolution (1793–1797), but later reinstated. The debtor's prison for civil debts was abolished in 1867. France still allows for contrainte judiciaire , ordered by a judge, for persons unwilling to pay court-ordered fines as part of a judicial sentence. Older, underage and unsolvable persons are exempted from the contrainte . Though France has

8700-467: Was far from pleasant, and the inmates were forced to pay for their keep. Samuel Byrom, son of the writer and poet John Byrom , was imprisoned for debt in the Fleet in 1725, and in 1729 he sent a petition to his old school friend, the Duke of Dorset , in which he raged against the injustices of the system. Some debtor prisoners were even less fortunate, being sent to prisons with a mixture of vicious criminals and petty criminals, and many more were confined to

8800-479: Was imprisoned for debt between 1808 and 1809 where he made use of his time by writing "Memoirs of the War". Debtors' prisons were prevalent throughout the United States until the mid-19th century. Economic hardships following the War of 1812 with Great Britain helped swell prison populations with simple debtors. This resulted in significant attention being given to plights of the poor and most dependent jailed under

8900-434: Was in his late fifties, Robinson Crusoe relates the story of a man's shipwreck on a desert island for twenty-eight years and his subsequent adventures. Throughout its episodic narrative, Crusoe's struggles with faith are apparent as he bargains with God in times of life-threatening crises, but time and again he turns his back after his deliverances. He is finally content with his lot in life, separated from society, following

9000-405: Was not intended as a work of erotica , later generations came to view it as such. Defoe's final novel, Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress (1724), which narrates the moral and spiritual decline of a high society courtesan, differs from other Defoe works because the main character does not exhibit a conversion experience, even though she claims to be a penitent later in her life, at the time that she

9100-402: Was not to discharge the obligation to pay, but rather to act as a compulsitor to force the debtor into revealing any hidden assets. The Scots law allowing the imprisonment of debtors was grounded in large part by an Act of Sederunt of 23 November 1613, which introduced the process of 'horning' whereby the creditor would demand the payment of the debt by a certain date. If the debtor did not satisfy

9200-648: Was often in debtors' prison. The cause of his death was labelled as lethargy, but he probably experienced a stroke. He was interred in Bunhill Fields (today Bunhill Fields Burial and Gardens), just outside the medieval boundaries of the City of London, in what is now the Borough of Islington , where a monument was erected to his memory in 1870. A street in the Bronx , New York is named in his honour (De Foe Place). Pamphleteer Pamphlets were used to broadcast

9300-434: Was presented with a proposal for unification. This so-called "first draft" for unification took place just a little over 100 years before the signing of the 1707 accord. Defoe made no attempt to explain why the same Parliament of Scotland which was so vehemently in favour of remaining independent from 1703 to 1705 became so supine in 1706. He received very little reward from his paymasters and no recognition for his services by

9400-790: Was probably about seven, a Dutch fleet sailed up the Medway via the River Thames and attacked the town of Chatham in the raid on the Medway . His mother, Alice, had died by the time he was about ten. Defoe was educated at the Rev. James Fisher's boarding school in Pixham Lane in Dorking , Surrey. His parents were Presbyterian dissenters , and around the age of 14, he was sent to Charles Morton 's dissenting academy at Newington Green , then

9500-498: Was published anonymously, but the true authorship was quickly discovered and Defoe was arrested. He was charged with seditious libel and found guilty in a trial at the Old Bailey in front of the notoriously sadistic judge Salathiel Lovell . Lovell sentenced him to a punitive fine of 200 marks (£336 then, £71,883 in 2024), to public humiliation in a pillory , and to an indeterminate length of imprisonment which would only end upon

9600-479: Was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966. It has also been supposed that Defoe may have also been inspired by a translation of a book by the Andalusian-Arab Muslim polymath Ibn Tufail , who was known as "Abubacer" in Europe. The Latin edition was entitled Philosophus Autodidactus ; Simon Ockley published an English translation in 1708, entitled The improvement of human reason, exhibited in

9700-409: Was still practiced until January 2008, when the law changed after imprisonment for unpaid taxes, as well as other debts to the government or to the social security office, was declared unconstitutional after having been practiced for 173 years; imprisonment was, however, still retained for debts to private banks. The situation regarding imprisonment (προσωποκράτηση (prosōpokrátēsē): custody) for debts to

9800-461: Was the first to begin the work of attributing anonymously published works to Defoe. In History of the Union , he created an expanded list with over a hundred titles that he attributed to Defoe, alongside twenty additional works that he designated as "Books which are supposed to be De Foe's." Chalmers included works in his canon of Defoe that were particularly in line with his style and way of thinking, and ultimately attributed 174 works to Defoe. Many of

9900-477: Was then able to influence the proposals that were put to Parliament and reported, Having had the honour to be always sent for the committee to whom these amendments were referrèd, I have had the good fortune to break their measures in two particulars via the bounty on Corn and proportion of the Excise. For Scotland, he used different arguments, even the opposite of those which he used in England, usually ignoring

10000-632: Was therefor a spy among us, but not known to be such, otherways the Mob of Edin. had pull him to pieces. Defoe was a Presbyterian who had suffered in England for his convictions, and as such he was accepted as an adviser to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and committees of the Parliament of Scotland . He told Harley that he was "privy to all their folly" but "Perfectly unsuspected as with corresponding with anybody in England". He

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