Bangs, Esq.
(an influential democrat of that day), were viewed with
indignation from all quarters. The statute of Feb., 1812, on this
subject was not passed to render _illegal_ the arrest of a dead
body of a debtor, for that was _always_ illegal, but its object
was to fix the punishment, instead of leaving it to the
discretion of the Courts. Many undoubtedly recollect the instance
at Portland several years before, in which a debtor who was on
the limits was suddenly taken sick and carried out of the limits,
where he died. It was then decided to be the law that the
debtor's bond was not broken unless his body was out of the
limits by his own agency and will.
So disinterring dead bodies of men was always a misdemeanor, but
in 1815 a law was passed by our General Court to fix the
penalties.
-------------------------
The case of Stephen Merrill Clark is remembered by many people in Salem
and its vicinity.
_Supreme Judicial Court._
At the present term of this Court in Salem, Andrew Dunlap,
John Foster, and Solomon Whipple, Esqrs.
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