VIAny Prisoner in Execution upon Judgment in an Action for Debt, not being a Trader, or being a Trader whose Debts are less than 300l., may by Petition be protected from Process and from being detained in Prison for any Debt mentioned in his Schedule; and if so detained, Commissioner may order his Discharge.
And be it declared and enacted, That any Prisoner in Execution upon any Judgment obtained in any Action for the Recovery of any Debt, either not being a Trader within the Meaning of the Statutes relating to Bankrupts, or being a Trader within the Meaning of the said Statutes owing Debts amounting on the whole to less than Three hundred Pounds, may be a Petitioner for Protection from Process ; and every such Petitioner to whom an Interim Order for Protection shall have been given shall not only be protected from Process, as provided by the said recited Act, but also from being detained in Prison in Execution upon any Judgment obtained in any Action for the Recovery of any Debt mentioned in his Schedule; and if any such Petitioner, being a Prisoner in Execution, shall be detained in Prison in Execution upon any such Judgment, it shall be lawful for the Commissioner to order any Officer who shall have such Petitioner in custody by virtue of such Execution to discharge such Petitioner out of Custody as to such Execution, without exacting any Fee, and such Officer shall hereby be indemnified for so doing; and no Sheriff, Gaoler, or other Person whatsoever shall be liable to any Action as for the Escape of any such Prisoner by reason of such his Discharge; and such Petitioner so discharged shall be protected by his Interim Order from all Process for such Time as the Commissioner shall by such Interim Order or any Renewal thereof think fit to appoint, until the making of the Final Order for Protection, in the same Manner as if such Petitioner had not been a Prisoner in Execution: Provided always, that after the Time allowed by any such Interim Order or any Renewal thereof (as the Case may be) shall have elapsed such Petitioner shall not by such Discharge be protected from being again taken in Execution upon such Judgment, but such Judgment shall remain in full Force and Effect notwithstanding such Discharge.