PUNISHMENT    OF   FKAUDULENT   DEBTORS.
^yhen  fraud  is        Sect.  31.     When  either  of  the  charges  named  in  section  five,  num-
to'piead',  ic?^"'^  bcrcd  sccond,  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth,  is  made  as  therein  provided,
1857,  ill',  §§  12,    or  when  the  plaintiff  or  creditor  or  any  one  in  his  behalf,  at  any  time
1  Gray,  172.       pending  the  examination  of  the   defendant  or  debtor  who  has  given
notice  of  his  desire  to  take  the  oath  for  the  relief  of  poor  debtors,  files
such  charges  in  writing,  subscribed  and  sworn  to  by  the  plaintiff  or
creditor  or  some  jjerson  in  his  behalf,  the  charges  shall  be  considered
in  the  nature  of  a  suit  at  law,  to  which  the  defendant  or  debtor  may
plead  that  he  is  guilty  or  not  guilty,  and  the  magistrate  may  thereupon
hear  and  determine  the  same.     The  plaintiff  or  creditor  shall  not  upon
such  hearing  give  evidence   of  any  charges  of  fraud  not  so  made  or
filed,  nor  of  any  fraudulent  acts  of  the  debtor  committed  more  than
three  years  before  the  commencement^  of  the  original  action.
Either  party  Sect.  32,     When  the  hearing  is  had  on  the  charges  of  fraud  men-

may  appeal.       tioned  in  the  preceding  section,  and  judgment  is  rendered  thereon  by


Chap.  124.]     poor  debtors  —  discharge  when  imprisoned.  639

the  magistrate,  either  party  may  appeal  to  the  superior  court,  in  like  I857, 141,  §  13.
manner  as  from  the  judgment  of  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  civil  actions.  ^''^'''' i'-*^-
And  the  trial  in  the  court  ajipealed  to  shall  be  by  a  jury,  unless  the
court  with  the  consent  of  both  2>arties  hears  and  determines  it  without
a  jury.
