Debt
Debt names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Debt NATIONAL. See under Finance in Articles on Countries
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
NATIONAL. See under Finance in Articles on Countries. DEBTOR. In ancient times a debtor who could not pay became, with his family and his personal servants, the property of the creditor. In Jewish times children were often given up as pledges for debt, and finally handed_over to slavery in payment of debt. Jesus speaks of this, in Matthew xviii: 25, as so customary a thing that it was a part of his folk teaching in a parable. And yet the Mosaic law was so far from contemplating anything of the sort that it did not even permit interest to be taken from an Israelite by an Israelite, and even manumitted the whole debt on the expiry of the Sabbathical year. The Jewish law also specified various articles of use and necessity as immune from attachment; in this particular, as in others, striving to safeguard all personal and property rights, while, at the same time, preserving social harmony and adherence to high morality. That these laws were subsequently perverted and misinterpreted, so as to permit of the injustices mentioned at the time of Christ, is hardly remarkable. They are in accord with the general trend of development among other nations. Among the ancient Romans the practice of enslavement for debt was an early and long-continued practice. Imprisonment for debt was less common under the military régime of mediæval Europe than in later times, but was for centuries a much-abused custom in England. Modern jurisprudence allows the attachment of property of all kinds, except, in general, the tools and instruments of livelihood, but discourages the imprisonment of the debtor, except in exceptional cases, as for the non-payment of alimony, or under other unusual cases, generally involving fraud. A debtor, on being declared bankrupt, makes assignment for the benefit of creditors, which often represents a small percentage of his indebtedness. DEBUSCOPE (from the inventor, M. Debus, a French optician; and Gr. skopeō = I see, a modification of the kaleidoscope. It consists of two highly polished silvered plates, set at an angle of 70° with each other. When placed before a picture or design, an assemblage of flower petals, or other small, colored objects, beautiful designs are formed by their reflected images. The instrument is held stationary while these are copied, and by successively moving it over the object, different combinations of figures are shown, which may be added to the first. It is particularly intended for the use of draftsmen who are required to design ornamental patterns for fabrics.
Debt NATIONAL by written obligation unsealed
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
NATIONAL by written obligation unsealed; within which class fall bills of ex exchange, and promissory notes. Debt is also a personal action of contract, in which the plaintiff seeks the recovery of a debt, i. e., a liquidated or certain sum of money alleged to be due to him. In the United States originally imprisonment of debtors was adopted as a part of the common law, but at the present time imprisonment for debt, except in case of fraud, or of an absconding debtor, does not legally exist in any of the States. Congress, empowered by the United States Constitution to make a uniform bankrupt law, exercised this power, and subsequently repealed the law of imprisonment; and now, by Revised Statutes 990 and 991, no person can be imprisoned for debt by any process issuing out of the courts of the United States, in any State where by the laws of the State imprisonment for debt has been abolished. Most of the States, by constitutional provision, have prohibited arrest or imprisonment for debt, while the other States, either by direct statutes prohibiting imprisonment for debt, or by poor debtors' laws, or by insolvent laws, secure the same result. In all the States a just and legal debt may be enforced and put in position for collection through attachment of property by means of a judgment issued by a court of competent jurisdiction. In all States, however, statutes specify a limitation, or definite term of years, for both debts and judgments, after which collection may not be enforced. The debt or judgment is then said to be "outlawed." Such statutes also define the legal rates of interest which may be required on debts, either with or without judgment. In general the law holds that a debt is an obligation based upon an agreement, which, if not expressed in a contract, verbal or otherwise, is definitely implied in a given transaction. This definition does not apply to taxes, which are held to be imposts levied by authority apart from all agreement; nor yet to fines incurred for misdemeanors, violations of duty, etc. Thus, while real property may be sold for non-payment of taxes, it may be redeemed at any time subsequently by payment of the principal and interest on the taxes due. This constitutes the gravest objection to acquiring a "tax title."
Debt that which is due from one person to another
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
that which is due from one person to another; that which one person is bound to pay or perform to another; due; obligation; liability. That which any one is obliged to do or to suffer. Debt in law is a species of contract whereby a chose in action, or right to a certain sum of money, is mutually acquired and lost; usually divided into debts of record, debts by special contract, and debts by simple contract. A debt of record is a sum which apears to be due by the evidence of a court of record; such as debt of judgment or recognizance. Debt by specialty is where a sum is acknowledged to be due, or becomes due, by instrument under seal; such as a covenant, bond, etc. Both these species of debts, being contracted by a man for himself and his heirs, attach on his lands and tenements, and bind them in the hands of his heir or devisee. Debt by simple contract is either by parol or
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 could point to the abolition of imprisonment for debt as the great modern reform, and defined debt through the old common-law categories "of record," "by specialty" and "by simple contract" — an action of debt that has since been swallowed up by unified civil procedure in both the United States and England. What the 1921 writers could not foresee was the scale of borrowing by ordinary people: the credit card (Diners Club, 1950; BankAmericard, 1958) and the credit score turned consumer debt into a mass industry, and American households now owe some $18 trillion. Bankruptcy law was rewritten wholesale by the U.S. Bankruptcy Code of 1978, which made the Chapter 7 discharge and Chapter 11 reorganisation the familiar routes rather than the assignment for creditors described here. On national debt the change is arithmetic: the U.S. federal debt stood in the tens of billions in 1921 and now exceeds $36 trillion. The one point that has quietly reversed is imprisonment: jailing for unpaid court fines, fees and child support persists in many American jurisdictions through contempt proceedings, prompting repeated litigation over what Collier's thought settled.
Written for this edition, 2026.