bankruptcy

bankruptcy, the status of a debtor who has been declared by judicial process to be unable to pay his debts. Although sometimes used indiscriminately to mean insolvency, the terms have distinct legal significance. Insolvency, as used in most legal systems, indicates the inability to meet debts. Bankruptcy, on the other hand, results from a legal adjudication that the debtor has filed a petition or that creditors have filed a petition against him.

Bankruptcy laws were enacted to provide and govern an orderly and equitable liquidation of the estates of insolvent debtors. This purpose has remained an important aim of bankruptcy legislation since the Middle Ages. Because in the past bankruptcy was coupled with the loss of civil rights and imposition of penalties upon fraudulent debtors, the designation bankrupt came to be associated with dishonesty, casting a stigma on persons who were declared bankrupts. Eventually, however, bankruptcy legislation was extended to provide procedures for the adjustment of debts so as to avoid liquidation and for the rehabilitation of insolvent debtors. Modern bankruptcy laws, therefore, include detailed provisions for preventive compositions, arrangements, or corporate reorganizations of various types. In fact, the salvage of an enterprise in financial difficulties has become the principal focus of bankruptcy legislation with particular concern for the maintenance of employment opportunities and the protection of members of the labour force.

In addition, the bankruptcy laws of England, the United States, and the British Commonwealth nations traditionally came to include provisions for the unpaid portions of debts incurred prior to bankruptcy in order to give honest but unfortunate debtors a new start in life. The bankruptcy laws of the European and Latin American countries, by contrast, did not have such provisions. In the late 20th century, however, legislation in some of these countries (e.g., Argentina and France) provided for the discharge of the unpaid portion of pre-bankruptcy creditors under certain conditions.

Since bankruptcy laws aim at the liquidation or rehabilitation of insolvent estates, bankruptcy proceedings involve all nonexempt assets of the debtor, and all creditors entitled to share in the proceeds of the liquidation or in the adjustment of their claims are called to participate. Accordingly, bankruptcy proceedings are viewed as general or universal collection procedures as distinguished from individual collection remedies available to particular creditors for the enforcement of their claims.

Modern bankruptcy law has been formed from a number of distinct historical strands. In ancient Roman law an unpaid judgment creditor could have the debtor’s estate sequestered (missio in bona) and sold for the benefit of all creditors (venditio bonorum). Proceedings of this type caused loss of civil rights. To alleviate this hardship a debtor was given the privilege of relinquishing voluntarily his assets to his creditors by petitioning a magistrate (cessio bonorum).

During the Middle Ages both institutions underwent a revival and development. The medieval Italian cities enacted statutes dealing with the collection and distribution of the assets of debtors, especially merchants, who had absconded or fraudulently caused insolvency. Such bankrupts (rumpentes et falliti) were subjected to severe penalties, and their estates were liquidated. In addition, medieval Spanish law restored the judicial cessio bonorum. The Siete Partidas, a codification published by authority of Don Alfonso X the Wise, king of Castile and León, during the second half of the 13th century, contained detailed provisions relating to insolvent debtors, applicable to merchants and nonmerchants alike, enabling them to secure a voluntary liquidation of their assets under judicial supervision. An unpaid creditor could insist on either payment or assignment of his estate by the debtor to all creditors.

Laws dealing with the property of absconding and fraudulent debtors, modeled after the statutes of the medieval Italian cities, spread throughout western Europe. Provisions of this type were adopted in the commercial centres of France, Brabant, and Flanders during the 15th and 16th centuries. The customs of Antwerp, printed in 1582, contained comprehensive rules on the treatment of bankrupts and their estates. The emperor Charles V, as count of Flanders, inserted stringent provisions for the repression of bankruptcies in his Decree for the Administration of Justice and Good Order of 1531. There can be no doubt that the first English “acte againste suche persones as doo make Bankrupte,” passed in 1542/43, was inspired by the northern European models, as the title reproduces the Flemish expression. It governed proceedings instituted against absconding or concealed debtors. It was replaced by a more detailed act of 1571 that applied only to merchants and other traders. Voluntary proceedings were not provided in England until 1844 and not in the United States until 1841.

In France, national rules on insolvency and bankruptcy were inserted into the Ordonnance du Commerce of 1673. It regulated both voluntary assignments for the benefit of creditors made by merchants (Title X) and the proceedings and effects flowing from bankruptcy (Title XI). It was interpreted to restrict bankruptcy proceedings to merchants only, and the laws of many other countries followed the French lead. Thus, in Spain the limitation of bankruptcy to merchants was adopted by the Ordinances of Bilbao, which were sanctioned in 1737 and subsequently applied in Latin America, especially Argentina.

The restriction of bankruptcy legislation to persons engaged in commerce created a need for liquidation proceedings applicable to other debtors. As mentioned above, the Siete Partidas contained provisions for voluntary liquidation proceedings applicable to all classes of debtors. On that basis a Spanish jurist of the 17th century, Salgado de Somoza, elaborated detailed rules for the initiation and conduct of voluntary liquidation proceedings, which were styled “concourse of creditors.” His tract, entitled Labyrinthus Creditorum, influenced the course of Spanish law and also had great impact on the common law of the German states. As a result, Spanish law developed two classes of liquidation proceedings, one for merchants and one for nonmerchants. Spanish law in that respect was the model for the legislation in Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, and other Latin American countries. Other nations, including Austria, Germany, England, the United States, and nations influenced by English laws, brought both merchants and nonmerchants under their bankruptcy laws. More recent laws in Latin America (e.g., in Argentina and Peru) likewise have established a unified system. France, Italy, and a few countries in Latin America, however, do not provide true insolvency proceedings for ordinary debtors.