statute-staple

Updated: June 11, 2025

This indeed rendered the preceding laws, called statute-merchant, and statute-staple, altogether unnecessary. Though the liberty of the subject, and the security of the landholder, were thus in some measure sacrificed to the advantage of commerce, an imprisoned debtor was not left entirely at the mercy of an inexorable creditor.

T. (Tobias) Smollett - The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. : Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II.