Category: Bankruptcy

  • State Insolvency Laws

    Constitutional Status of State Insolvency Laws: PreemptionPrior to 1898, Congress exercised the power to establish "uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcy" only intermittently. The first national bankruptcy law was not enacted until 1800 and was repealed in 1803; the second was passed i…

  • Rights of the Trustee

    Liberalization of Relief Granted and Expansion of the Rights of the TrusteeAs the coverage of the bankruptcy laws has been expanded, the scope of the relief afforded to debtors has been correspondingly enlarged. The act of 1800, like its English antecedents, was designed primarily for the benefit of…

  • Congrss Bankruptcy Power

    Constitutional Limitations on the Congress Bankruptcy PowerIn the exercise of its bankruptcy powers, Congress must not transgress the Fifth and Tenth Amendments. The Bankruptcy Act provides that use immunity may be granted "for persons required to submit to examination, to testify, or to provid…

  • Bankruptcy

    Persons Who May Be Released From DebtIn an early case on circuit, Justice Livingston suggested that inasmuch as the English statutes on the subject of bankruptcy from the time of Henry VIII down had applied only to traders it might "well be doubted, whether an act of Congress subjecting to such…