History of bankruptcy law

The dire consequences of bankruptcy for the debtor, such as the loss and liquidation of his assets, imprisonment, and loss of civil rights, resulted in the need for procedures avoiding such sanctions. A remedy was found in the right of a deserving debtor to reach an agreement for an extension or reduction of his debts with a majority of his creditors that was binding on dissenters. The cradle of this institution was again the statutes of the medieval cities. Provisions to that effect were also contained in the Siete Partidas. In England, similar procedures were developed by the Privy Council through bills of conformity, but this practice ended with the abolition of the council’s civil jurisdiction in 1641. In France the Ordonnance du Commerce of 1673 recognized majority compositions as a legitimate means of handling the estates of insolvents without liquidation. The Commercial Code of 1807, however, and following it the laws of other countries, restricted them to a method of terminating rather than preventing bankruptcy proceedings. Preventive compositions were reintroduced as legitimate means of dealing with embarrassed or insolvent estates only during the second part of the 19th century; they are now recognized in most countries as important devices for economic rehabilitation.

At one time all bankrupts were considered defrauders and criminals. They were subjected to severe social and professional sanctions, including even a degrading form of dress. In recent times, however, great efforts have been made to remove the disgrace attached to bankruptcy. Even the terms bankrupt and bankruptcy (or their equivalents in other languages) are used less and less frequently in the statutory language. Modern French legislation, for example, totally suppresses the traditional term faillite as the name of liquidation proceedings and restricts it to special procedures entailing the imposition of disqualifications on insolvents guilty of commercial misconduct.

Most nations with private-enterprise economies have legislation providing for liquidation of hopelessly insolvent estates. Liquidation proceedings are often referred to as “straight” bankruptcy, in contradistinction to other insolvency proceedings aiming at arrangements or reorganizations. Recent insolvency laws, such as those enacted in Argentina and France, provide for a unified procedure in which liquidation is decreed only after the possibility of reorganization has been found not to exist or an attempted reorganization has failed.

Bankruptcy or insolvency laws vary considerably in their applicability to particular classes of persons. The German act and, following its example, the Austrian and Japanese acts extend bankruptcy proceedings to all natural and legal persons, whether or not they are engaged in commerce and without differentiating between petitions by the bankrupt himself or by creditors. In the United States, individuals, whether merchants or nonmerchants, as well as private corporations, with the exception of certain financial institutions, are subject to the Bankruptcy Code. Involuntary petitions, however, cannot be filed against farmers and nonprofit corporations. Moreover, proceedings for debt adjustment of individuals cannot be initiated by creditors. Canada likewise applies its act to individuals and corporations. It excludes, however, certain financial institutions and nonbusiness corporations in general. In England the former Bankruptcy Act covered only individuals, whether merchants or not. Registered companies were liquidated under the winding-up provisions of the Company Law. A great number of the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, however, were made applicable in such proceedings. The dual system still governs in Australia, New Zealand, and India. A number of nations, following the model of the French law of 1838, extend their bankruptcy laws only to persons qualifying as merchants or engaging in trade but do not differentiate between individuals and corporations. To that class belong the bankruptcy laws of Italy (with the exception of small enterprises), Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and a number of Latin American countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. Argentina, Chile, and Peru, however, follow the German pattern and subject to their bankruptcy laws all individuals and corporations, whether merchants or not. A number of the countries that restrict bankruptcy to merchants have, however, inserted provisions for insolvency proceedings governing nonmerchants in their codes of civil procedure. France extends its insolvency law (1985) to merchants, artisans, and all legal persons even if not merchants.

Modern bankruptcy laws provide for the initiation of liquidation proceedings upon petition by either the bankrupt himself or his creditors. There are differences as to the number of creditors who must join in a creditor’s petition. A great number of laws are satisfied with a petition by a single creditor regardless of the amount of his claim, the total number of creditors, or the amount of the outstanding indebtedness, so long as the debtor is unable to meet his current payments or has committed a so-called act of bankruptcy. Petition by a single creditor suffices according to the law of Germany (1877) and, following it, of Japan; the laws of Austria, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland; and the laws of such Latin American countries as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. In Austria at least one other creditor must exist, although he need not join in the petition; but the sufficiency of one unpaid creditor is provided expressly in the Chilean and Mexican acts.

A somewhat different regime exists in the common-law countries. In England, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as India, a single creditor may be a petitioner if the unsecured part of his claim equals or exceeds a specified amount. Otherwise, other creditors must join until the aggregate amount of their claims equals the requisite sum.

In some countries the initiation of liquidation may also be decreed by the court ex officio or upon petition by public officials. Ex officio action by the court is provided, for example, in Italy, France, and Mexico. Moreover, these countries and, in addition, Portugal authorize public officials to file petitions for the liquidation of bankrupt estates. In a number of countries, following in this respect the traditional French approach, bankrupt debtors are under a duty to file a petition, and their initiation is not left to their own judgment as in the common-law countries.