or whether he is free in conscience as he is in law. There can scarcely be a doubt that the civil authority can release a bankrupt from all future liability if it choose to do so. Especially in trading communities it may be for v the public good that an honest but unfortunate trader should be able to begin again, without being weighted with a heavy load of past debts. If the law releases a bankrupt debtor from all future liability, the rate of interest will soon accommodate itself to the circumstance. So that it is merely a question of fact as to what is the effect of any particular bankruptcy law. In most countries, as in America, it seems that the law only grants the bankrupt legal exemption from future molestation on the part of his creditors; it does not free him from the moral obligation to pay his debts in full if ever he becomes able to do so.
In England, on the other hand, by an absolute discharge " the debt is extinguished," " the bankrupt becomes a clear man again," in the words of lawyers who discuss the effect of English bankruptcy law. A composition or scheme of arrangement with one's creditors has the same effect as an absolute discharge when it has been approved by the Court.
