insolvency was in force in Virginia in the seventeenth century.[1]
All debts made out of the Colony and due to merchants who did not live within its boundaries were subordinated to obligations contracted in Virginia, provided the claim based upon the latter was brought forward before the expiration of twelve months. If, however, the factor of the trader who was a non-resident took the precaution, two months after he arrived in the country with goods for sale, to enter on record the name of his principal and the value of the merchandise in his hands as agent, the principal acquired thereby all the rights enjoyed by the inhabitants of the Colony. A debt for goods was not recoverable in Virginia unless they had been really imported, no relaxation of the rule being allowed in case they had been captured by an enemy or had gone down in a wreck while on the way.
- ↑ Records of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 212, Va. State Library. Records of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 464, Va. State Library. About 1690, the authorities of York County proposed to the General Assembly that after the first three months’ imprisonment, the creditor should support his debtor in jail, if the latter had sworn that he was not in possession of property equal in value to the debt. See Records of York County, vol. 1667-1691, p. 132, Va. State Library.
