Description
Book SynopsisAll modern legal systems with advanced economies must address the question of how to respond to the needs of insolvent consumers whose burden of debt greatly exceeds their capacity to repay within a reasonable time frame. This study surveys comparatively the insolvency regimes currently in place or likely to be adopted in the foreseeable future in Canada,the United States, Australia, England and Wales, Scotland, Scandinavia and a representative group of Western countries on the continent of Europe. Modern legal systems have two basic alternatives in providing relief for over-committed consumers. The first, which involves restricting the enforcement of individual creditor remedies is a method with which this study is not concerned. Where the consumer is seriously insolvent and owes money to many creditors, a different approach is required -- a collective solution to debtor's problems - and this, the solution provided by modern insolvency systems, is the focus of this study.
Trade Review...should have a lasting influence on the continuing debate about consumer credit and consumer bankruptcy going on across Europe. Adrian Walters Journal of Consumer Policy, Vol.28, Issue 2 2005 We are much indebted to Hart Publishing. So far as I am aware, no books dealing with consumer insolvency have previously been published in this country, and we now have two [Comparative Consumer Insolvency Regimes and Consumer Bankruptcy in Global Perspective] launched in the same month. And they are in many respects complementary, even to the point of having cross-references to each other, as well as being especially timely, in view of the reforms to the law of bankruptcy in England and Wales effected by the Enterprise Act 2002 The two books are a rich source of comparative study extending over a wide range of jurisdictions. These well-researched and informative books make most interesting reading and are to be commended to general as well as specialist readers. Len Sealy Cambridge Law Journal August 2004
Table of ContentsPart A Introduction 1 Purpose of Study Part B Country Surveys 11 2 Canada 3 United States 4 Australia 5 England and Wales 6 Scotland 7 Scandinavia and Continental Countries of Western Europe Part C Assessing the Various Insolvency Regimes and Suggestions for Changes 8 Assessment and Suggestions for Changes
