Cessio bonorum

Cessio bonorum, (Latin: “a cession of goods”), in Roman law, a voluntary surrender of goods by a debtor to his creditors. It did not amount to a discharge of the debt unless the property ceded was sufficient for the purpose, but it secured the debtor from personal arrest. The creditors sold the goods, applying the proceeds to their claims. Although property that the debtor might acquire later could be claimed by the creditors, he could not be deprived of the bare necessities. The main features of cessio bonorum were adopted into the French and other legal systems. In England it survives in the internal regulations of certain commercial bodies, such as stock exchanges.