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The history of bankruptcy law begins with the first legal remedies available for recovery of debts. Bankruptcy is the legal status of a legal person unable to repay debts.
In Ancient Greece, bankruptcy did not exist. If a man owed and he could not pay, he and his wife, children or servants were forced into "debt slavery", until the creditor recouped losses via their physical labour. Many city-states in ancient Greece limited debt slavery to a period of five years and debt slaves had protection of life and limb, which regular slaves did not enjoy. However, servants of the debtor could be retained beyond that deadline by the creditor and were often forced to serve their new lord for a lifetime, usually under significantly harsher conditions.
In Judaism and the Torah, or Old Testament, every seventh year is decreed by Mosaic Law as a Sabbatical year wherein the release of all debts that are owed by members of the Jewish community is mandated, but not of "gentiles". [1] The seventh Sabbatical year, or forty-ninth year, is then followed by another Sabbatical year known as the Year of Jubilee wherein the release of all debts is mandated, for fellow community members and foreigners alike, and the release of all debt-slaves is also mandated. [2] The Year of Jubilee is announced in advance on the Day of Atonement, or the tenth day of the seventh Biblical month, in the forty-ninth year by the blowing of trumpets throughout the land of Israel.
The Talmud describes several rules for dividing assets among debtors with different claims, each of which is applicable in different situations. Among them are the contested garment rule, the constrained equal awards rule, and the constrained equal losses rule.
In Islamic teaching, according to the Quran, an insolvent person was deemed to be allowed time to be able to pay out his debt. This is recorded in the Quran's second chapter (Sura Al-Baqara), Verse 281, which notes: "And if someone is in hardship, then let there be postponement until a time of ease. But if you give from your right as charity, then it is better for you, if you only knew."
Medieval canon law discussed extensively provisions to mitigate the harshness of debtors' punishments. Most commentators allowed for a debtor to be discharged and make a fresh start, after ceding to his creditors all his goods (or possibly all his goods except some bare necessities). [3] These provisions later influenced English law.
Bankruptcy is also documented in East Asia. According to al-Maqrizi, the Yassa of Genghis Khan contained a provision that mandated the death penalty for anyone who became bankrupt three times.
Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575 and 1596. Spain became the first sovereign nation in history to declare bankruptcy.[ citation needed ]
In England, the first recognised piece of legislation was the Statute of Bankrupts 1542. [4] Bankrupts were seen as crooks, and the Act stated its aim to prevent "crafty debtors" escaping the realm. [5] A more humane approach was developed in the Bankruptcy Act 1705. [6] The Lord Chancellor was given power to discharge bankrupts, once disclosure of all assets and various procedures had been fulfilled. In Fowler v Padget [7] Lord Kenyon reasserted the old sentiment that "Bankruptcy is considered a crime and a bankrupt in the old laws is called an offender."
The bankrupt was seen as being bonded to his creditors. Under the Insolvent Debtors (England) Act 1813, debtors could request release after 14 days in jail by taking an oath that their assets did not exceed £20, but if any of their creditors objected, they had to stay inside. Attitudes were changing, however, and the Bankruptcy Act 1825 (6 Geo. 4. c. 16) allowed people to start proceedings for their own bankruptcy, in agreement with creditors. Previously only creditors could start the proceedings. Bankruptcy proceedings agreed between creditors and debtor also occurred when a trader filed a declaration of insolvency in the office of the Chancellor's Secretary of Bankrupts, which was then advertised. The advertised declaration supported a commission in bankruptcy to be issued. A law was thereafter enacted, which declared that no commission grounded on this act of bankruptcy was to be "deemed invalid by reason of such declaration having been concerted or agreed upon between the bankrupt and any creditor or other person." [8] Voluntary bankruptcy was not authorized until the passing of the Bankruptcy Law Consolidation Act 1849. [9]
In the middle of the 19th century, attitudes towards corporations were also quickly changing. Since the South Sea Bubble disaster, companies were viewed as inefficient and dangerous. [10] But with the industrial revolution in full swing that changed. The Joint Stock Companies Act 1844 [11] allowed people to create companies without permission through a royal charter. Companies had "separate legal personality", the ability to sue and be sued, and served as an easy mechanism for raising capital through the purchase of shares (an equitable title) in the company's capital. The Act's corollary, to bring the existence of these "legal persons" to an end was the Joint Stock Companies Winding-Up Act 1844. The Limited Liability Act 1855 produced a further innovation. Before, if a corporation had gone broke, the people that lent it money (creditors) could sue all the shareholders to pay off the company's debts. But the 1855 Act said that shareholders' liability would be limited to the amount they had paid for their shares of stock. The Joint Stock Companies Act 1856 consolidated the companies legislation in one, and the modern law of corporate insolvency was born. Finally, the Bankruptcy Act 1869 was passed allowing all people, rather than just traders to file for bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor.
A debtor or debitor is a legal entity that owes a debt to another entity. The entity may be an individual, a firm, a government, a company or other legal person. The counterparty is called a creditor. When the counterpart of this debt arrangement is a bank, the debtor is more often referred to as a borrower.
In the United States, bankruptcy is largely governed by federal law, commonly referred to as the "Bankruptcy Code" ("Code"). The United States Constitution authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States". Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, including through adoption of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, as amended, codified in Title 11 of the United States Code and the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA).
In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be insolvent. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet insolvency.
A trustee in bankruptcy is an entity, often an individual, in charge of administering a bankruptcy estate.
Consumer bankruptcy in Canada is governed by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act ("BIA"). The legislation is complemented by regulations, as well as directives from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy that provide guidelines to trustees in bankruptcy on various aspects of the BIA.
Bankruptcy in the United Kingdom is divided into separate local regimes for England and Wales, for Northern Ireland, and for Scotland. There is also a UK insolvency law which applies across the United Kingdom, since bankruptcy refers only to insolvency of individuals and partnerships. Other procedures, for example administration and liquidation, apply to insolvent companies. However, the term 'bankruptcy' is often used when referring to insolvent companies in the general media.
The Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act is one of the statutes that regulates the law on bankruptcy and insolvency in Canada. It governs bankruptcies, consumer and commercial proposals, and receiverships in Canada.
An individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) is a formal alternative in England and Wales for individuals wishing to avoid bankruptcy. In Scotland, the equivalent statutory debt solution is known as a protected trust deed.
An unfair preference is a legal term arising in bankruptcy law where a person or company transfers assets or pays a debt to a creditor shortly before going into bankruptcy, that payment or transfer can be set aside on the application of the liquidator or trustee in bankruptcy as an unfair preference or simply a preference.
As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry on running their business. The process – in the United Kingdom colloquially called being "under administration" – is an alternative to liquidation or may be a precursor to it. Administration is commenced by an administration order.
United Kingdom insolvency law regulates companies in the United Kingdom which are unable to repay their debts. While UK bankruptcy law concerns the rules for natural persons, the term insolvency is generally used for companies formed under the Companies Act 2006. Insolvency means being unable to pay debts. Since the Cork Report of 1982, the modern policy of UK insolvency law has been to attempt to rescue a company that is in difficulty, to minimise losses and fairly distribute the burdens between the community, employees, creditors and other stakeholders that result from enterprise failure. If a company cannot be saved it is liquidated, meaning that the assets are sold off to repay creditors according to their priority. The main sources of law include the Insolvency Act 1986, the Insolvency Rules 1986, the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, the Employment Rights Act 1996 Part XII, the EU Insolvency Regulation, and case law. Numerous other Acts, statutory instruments and cases relating to labour, banking, property and conflicts of laws also shape the subject.
The history of bankruptcy law in the United States refers primarily to a series of acts of Congress regarding the nature of bankruptcy. As the legal regime for bankruptcy in the United States developed, it moved from a system which viewed bankruptcy as a quasi-criminal act, to one focused on solving and repaying debts for people and businesses suffering heavy losses.
Bankruptcy in Irish Law is a legal process, supervised by the High Court whereby the assets of a personal debtor are realised and distributed amongst his or her creditors in cases where the debtor is unable or unwilling to pay his debts.
Insolvency law of Russia mainly includes Federal Law No. 127-FZ "On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)" and Federal Law No. 40-FZ "On Insolvency (Bankruptcy) of Credit Institutions".
British Virgin Islands bankruptcy law is principally codified in the Insolvency Act, 2003, and to a lesser degree in the Insolvency Rules, 2005. Most of the emphasis of bankruptcy law in the British Virgin Islands relates to corporate insolvency rather than personal bankruptcy. As an offshore financial centre, the British Virgin Islands has many times more resident companies than citizens, and accordingly the courts spend more time dealing with corporate insolvency and reorganisation.
Cayman Islands bankruptcy law is principally codified in five statutes and statutory instruments:
Anguillan bankruptcy law regulates the position of individuals and companies who are unable to meet their financial obligations.
Cross-border insolvency regulates the treatment of financially distressed debtors where such debtors have assets or creditors in more than one country. Typically, cross-border insolvency is more concerned with the insolvency of companies that operate in more than one country rather than bankruptcy of individuals. Like traditional conflict of laws rules, cross-border insolvency focuses upon three areas: choice of law rules, jurisdiction rules and enforcement of judgment rules. However, in relation to insolvency, the principal focus tends to be the recognition of foreign insolvency officials and their powers.
The Bankruptcy Act of 1800 was the first piece of federal legislation in the United States surrounding bankruptcy. The act was passed in response to a decade of periodic financial crises and commercial failures. It was modeled after English practice. The act placed the bankrupt estate under the control of a commissioner chosen by the district judge. The debt would be forgiven if two-thirds of creditors agreed to forgive the remaining debt. Only merchants could petition a creditor to file a case under the provisions of the act.
