Note 6 — Chapter V
Reading edition
Note 6. Page 227.
The reader will bear in mind, that, as explained in a note to the first volume, arrest on mesne process was abolished a few years ago, by statute 1 and 2 Vict. c. 110, (passed 16th August 1838.) The policy of abandoning this system did not secure the unanimous approbation of the Common Law Commissioners. One of the most learned of them dissented from the report recommending the abolition of the system, and embodied his reasons in a very elaborate supplemental report. That arrest on mesne process was the means of inflicting an inconceivable amount of unjustifiable suffering, and was often a mere vehicle for oppression—is indisputable. The abolition of arrest on final process stands on very different grounds.