(name of publishers)

author) in consideration of the agreements of the said hereinafter contained, hereby agrees with them and their representatives and assigns that he will deliver to them on or before the

day of

A.D. 186 the manuscript of a book now in course of preparation by him, to be entitled said manuscript to be properly prepared for the press, and to be sufficient in amount for volume of not less than similar to those of

pages,

that he will secure in his own name a good and valid copyright thereof for the United States, and any renewals or extensions of such copyright to which he may hereafter be entitled, and will defend the same from all infringements and adverse claims, and will save the said and their representatives and assigns harmless and indemnified from all such infringements and claims, and from all damage, costs, and expenses arising to them by reason thereof; that he will license and allow the said and their representatives and assigns, but no other party or parties, to print, publish, and sell the aforesaid book, and any revisions of the same, during the continuance of any copyrights or renewals thereof which he may obtain therefor; provided, however, that the said

and their representatives and assigns, shall in substantial good faith keep and perform their agreements hereinafter contained; and that, during the continuance of the exclusive rights hereby granted, he will revise said book as occasion may require, and will with all reasonable diligence and speed superintend in the usual manner of authors the printing of all editions thereof; and will not prepare, edit, or cause to be published in his name or otherwise, any thing which may injure or interfere with the sale of the aforesaid book. And the said (name of the publishers) in consideration of the foregoing agreements of the said author of the aforesaid book, hereby agree on their part that they will, upon the delivery to them of the manuscript thereof as aforesaid, proceed at once to print and publish an edition of said book, of at least

copies,

of which they will deliver to the said author for his own use without charge; that they will subsequently, from time to time, during the continuance of their enjoyment of the exclusive rights herein granted them, print and publish such other editions of said book as the demand for the same may require, copies of each of which they will deliver to said author for his own use without charge; that they will use their best exertions to secure the speedy sale of all such editions published by them as aforesaid; and that, upon the publication of each and every edition of said book, they will pay unto the said author, or his representatives or assigns, a sum equal upon each and every copy of which said edition shall consist (excepting, however, said copies to be given to said author as aforesaid, and such other copies as may be used for presentation to editors and others for the purpose of obtaining reviews and notices, or otherwise to promote the sale of said book), which said sum shall be paid as follows (state the manner and times of payment, as by cash or notes)

to

but from any sum so to be paid as aforesaid shall first be

deducted the cost of any alterations or corrections, exceeding ten per cent of the cost of first setting up the type, made by the said author in said book after the portion altered or corrected is in type.

In Witness Whereof, The said parties have hereto, and to another instrument of like tenor, set their hands the day and year first above written.

A.D. eighteen

did obtain a copyright from the United States for a work entitled and the certificate of said copyright bears date

hundred and

Now this Deed Witnesseth, That for a valuable consideration, viz. to me in hand paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, I have assigned, sold, and set over, and by these presents do assign, sell, and set over unto the said (name of assignee) all the right, title, and interest I have in the above book (or design, &c.) as secured to me by said copyright. The same to be held and enjoyed by the said (name of assignee) for his own use and behoof, and for the use and behoof of his legal representatives, to the full end of the term for which said copyright was issued, as fully and entirely as the same would have been held and enjoyed by me had this assignment and sale not been made.

In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this in the year of our Lord one

thousand eight hundred and

day of

Sealed and Delivered in Presence of

(Signature.) (Seal.)

CHAPTER XXXV.

MEANS PROVIDED FOR THE RECOVERY AND COLLECTION OF DEBTS.

1. Arrest and Imprisonment.- In eight States, no person can be arrested or imprisoned for debt. These are Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Wisconsin, Arkansas, and Texas. In California no female, and in Louisiana no female, and no person who has not a domicil in the State, and in Ohio no female nor any officer or soldier of the Revolutionary army, can be arrested or imprisoned for debt. In all the States, the intention of the law is to limit imprisonment to those cases in which either fraud was committed in the contraction of the debt, or the debtor intends to abscond out of the reach of process. The provisions to effect this are very various. Generally, the plaintiff must file in the clerk's office, or indorse upon the writ, an affidavit of the facts on which he grounds the right of arrest. In some of the States, provision is made for the imprisonment on execution of a debtor who can be found to possess, and refuses to surrender, property or interest, real or personal, which might be made available for the payment of his debts.

2. The Trustee Process. The trustee process, or garnishee process, or process of foreign attachment, - by all which names it is known, is now nearly or quite universal. It is substantially this. A owes B a debt; but A has no property in his hands or possession which B can get at; but A has deposited in the hands of C goods or property or credits of some kind, or A has a valid claim against C for wages or services, or money loaned, or goods sold, or something else; and this B gets by suing A, not with a common writ, but with a trustee writ, so called, in which he declares that B is the trustee of A, for property, &c.; and on this writ, if B recovers payment against A, he will have an execution against all A's property in the hands of C, and all A's valid demands against C. But C, when notified, may come into court, and, in answer to all questions put to him, declare that he (C) has no property in his hands belong

ing to A, and that he does not owe A any thing. And then the plaintiff may shape the questions as he pleases, to draw out the truth.

No one is adjudged trustee, or made to pay to the creditor the debt due to the debtor, if he has given a negotiable note for it, because he might have to pay it again to an honest indorsee. Nor if the debt is not certainly due; nor, generally, if it is due from the trustee in any official capacity, which will require him to account over for the money in his hands; nor if the debtor has recovered a judgment against the trustee, on which execution may issue.

3. The Homestead. In sixteen of the States, a homestead is protected from creditors, and exempted from all attachment or execution, excepting in some States for taxes, or wages of labor to a certain amount. In Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, and Iowa, it is limited to five hundred dollars in value. In Georgia, fifty acres, not to exceed two hundred dollars. In Florida, forty acres, not to exceed two hundred dollars. In New York, New Jersey, and Illinois, not to exceed one thousand dollars; in Michigan, fifteen hundred dollars; in Texas, two hundred acres, or two thousand dollars in value; in California, five thousand dollars.

Various provisions are made in each of these States to combine a due protection of the creditor with proper prevention of fraud. The most common means are by requiring that "the homestead" should be distinctly defined and set apart, and in many cases by the additional requirement, that the description and location of it should be put on public record.

In all the States there are also exemption laws. These provide very generally that bed and bedding and other necessáry furniture, needful clothing, a Bible and school-books, and a certain amount of food and fuel, shall not be taken on attachment or execution. In some States, the tools of a trade, the uniform, arms, and equipments of soldiers or officers in the militia, the family burying-vault and gravestones, a team or yoke of oxen, bees with their hives and honey, a boat for fishing, &c., are exempted. The statutes often enumerate the articles exempted quite minutely, and then add, that necessary articles to a certain amount of value, usually one or two hundred dollars, are also exempted.

THE

CHAPTER XXXVI.

LIENS OF MECHANICS AND MATERIAL MEN FOR THEIR WAGES AND MATERIALS.

IN nearly all our States there are now some provisions for securing to mechanics, and to persons supplying materials (who are called "material men "), their wages and pay for their materials, by means of liens, as they are called in law. A lien is a hold upon or a valid claim against property. This means that every mechanic employed upon a house, and, in most of the States, upon a vessel, and in some upon any property whatever, as a railroad or canal, either in the construction or repair of it, has a lien upon the property on which he has labored or for which he has supplied materials, for the amount of his wages and the price of his materials. This lien or claim he has for a certain time; and during that time he may either sue for his wages, and make an attachment of the property, or, in some States, file a petition with the proper court; and in either may have the property sold to pay his wages, unless the owner redeems it.

The reason of these precautions is obvious enough. The purpose of the law is to assist and protect the mechanic, or material man, but not to enable him to commit a fraud or do an injury to his neighbors. And it would be an injury to a man to let him buy a house and pay full price for it, and then tell him that the mechanics who built it had a lien (which is much the same in effect as a mortgage) upon the house, without his knowing any thing about it. And it would be an injury to an owner, who had contracted with the master-workman to repair or change his house at great expense, to settle with this master-workman in due time, and pay him the full amount of his bill, without any notice to the owner that he was under an obligation to pay again for all the labor spent upon his house, or let the house go on execution.