Vanessa Finch provides an interesting look at corporate insolvency laws and processes. She adopts an interdisciplinary approach to place two questions at the centre of her discussion. Are current UK laws and procedures efficient, expert, accountable and fair? Are fundamentally different conceptions of insolvency law needed for it to develop in a way that serves corporate and broader social ends? Topics considered in this wide-ranging book include different ways of financing companies, causes of corporate failure and prospects for designing rescue-friendly processes. Also examined are alternative asset distribution of failed companies, allocations of insolvency risks and effects of insolvency on a company's directors and employees. Finch argues that changes of approach are needed if insolvency law is to develop with coherence and purpose. This book will appeal to academics and students at advanced undergraduate and graduate level, and to legal practitioners throughout the common law world.
This volume analyses corporate insolvency law as a coherent whole, stemming from common fundamental principles and amenable to being justified or criticised on that basis. The author explains why consistency of principle must be sought and how it might be found in the relevant statutory and case law. He then constructs an egalitarian theory for the analysis of corporate insolvency law, based on the premise that all the parties affected by this law are to be treated as equals. He argues that this theory can reconcile the dictates of fairness with the demands of economic efficiency. The theory is employed to analyse some of the most important aspects of insolvency law. Why should the individualistic method of enforcing claims against solvent companies give way to a collective method during insolvency? Why are there different formal mechanisms for dealing with troubled companies? What role does the pari passu principle play in the distribution of an insolvent company s assets?The controversial issues of whether and when secured creditors should be accorded priority over others receive detailed consideration. The functional role of the floating charge and its relationship with receivership are also analysed in this context. The many questions relating to the operation of the new administration procedure introduced by the Enterprise Act 2002 are considered in the light of principle. The book also analyses the role of the wrongful trading provisions. It examines, finally, why insolvency law objects to certain transactions at an undervalue and those having a preferential effect. This volume aims to enhance understanding of this important branch of the law, and to suggest principled solutions to problems which have not yet received judicial attention.
This text explores in depth the fundamental principles of corporate insolvency law and the many conceptual and analytical problems posed by the legislation and offers both theoretical and practical solutions.
Covering the subject of insolvency law, this text contains detailed academic analysis where necessary and also covers areas of debate and controversy in the subject. Insolvency is set in its social, economic and historical context and brief extracts for judgements and statutes are given.
The significant role of credit in obtaining corporate capital means that credit and the treatment of creditors’ interests raises distinctive issues in the event of company insolvency. In this book, Kayode Akintola addresses these issues, providing an exceptional in-depth analysis of the principles, policy and practice of creditor treatment in corporate insolvency law.
Who enjoys statutory preferred creditor status? What justifications exist for jurisdictions to maintain statutes that favour 'priority' creditors over other creditors and contributories? This book examines preferential debts derived from specific legislative provisions applying to corporate insolvency. In exploring the concept of preferential treatment, Statutory Priorities in Corporate Insolvency Law includes chapters that provide a doctrinal, theoretical and historical analysis of who enjoys preferred creditor status. As well as examining the traditional major categories of priorities, this work also identifies potential new categories for priority status such as environmental clean-up costs, international creditors, tort claimants and consumers among other non-consensual creditors. While the study focuses on Australian corporate insolvency law, where appropriate, comparisons are made with other common law jurisdictions, particularly the UK, Canada, New Zealand and the US.
Corporate and Personal Insolvency Law provides a basic framework of knowledge of the current legal rules and a comprehensive introduction to the underlying issues. It will be ideal for those studying insolvency at undergraduate or postgraduate level and for those studying professional examinations and practising in the area.
The ninth edition of Keay's Insolvency has come at a time when major insolvency reforms, foreshadowed in previous editions, have just been announced. While none of these has become law, the authors have introduced readers to the proposed changes and the considerable impact they will have on the operation of the law and the administration of insolvencies. These include the introduction of a safe harbour defence to insolvent trading, allowing more emphasis on informal restructuring, restrictions on counter-parties terminating contracts under "ipso facto" clauses, and allowing small companies to go through a streamlined liquidation process. The timing of these reforms, and their significance, is such that those studying and practicing in insolvency need to have an understanding of what is coming, which Keay will provide, even if by way of brief comment at various points throughout. Those reforms have confirmed the authors' continued and increased focus on corporate restructuring law and practice, including outside the context of formal insolvency, an on-going trend in Australia, and internationally. This edition also has new commentary on the roles and duties of lawyers acting in insolvency. PPS law and practice and further embedded in the commentary, along with cross-border insolvency, tax, banking and other related laws. The text has necessarily been updated with commentary on new and important case law, with an emphasis on decisions from the High Court and Courts of Appeals, or on decisions that add new perspectives on the law and practice. The authors have given greater emphasis to legal and insolvency practice - with references throughout to ASIC and AFSA regulatory guidance, Court rules, the ARITA Code, tax issues and forms. Useful tables have been added to explain the details in the text and each chapter now has a summary table of references to the particular parts of the legislation, regulatory guidance, and court rules. The book also cross-references to cases in the new case book, Insolvency Law - Commentary and Materials. Commentary on the statistical trends available from the October 2015 annual reports of the regulators, and other data, is explained, in particular in as far as they may support the law reform trends. The final chapter in the last edition of the text critically assessed Australia's insolvency regime. The authors stand by that commentary and have necessarily updated and added to it in light of the law reform announcements, remaining of the view that while the laws work well enough, the environment local and international environment in which they operate has significantly changed such that, while the reforms are welcomed, a wholesale review of the regime in Australia is still needed. The authors are pleased to see the recognition given to Australian insolvency law and practice through the election of Mr Mark Robinson of PPB Advisory as President of INSOL International in 2015, and of Professor Rosalind Mason, of Queensland University of Technology (QUT), as Chair of INSOL Academics. Both have contributed enormously to the development of the practice and law of insolvency both in Australia and internationally. We are very pleased to have Mark Robinson contribute a foreword to this edition of the book. Michael Murray remains a visiting fellow at the Queensland University of Technology, and is now a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, and continues to work in and contribute to the development and thinking of insolvency and restructuring law, practice and policy. Jason Harris is now an Associate Professor in Law at the University of Technology, Sydney, and continues to teach and write extensively in the area, in particular in corporate law and restructuring. Each brings his respective knowledge, experience and thoughts to this important area of law and practice.
This book analyses corporate rescue laws, processes and policies prescribed in corporate insolvency or bankruptcy laws, and employment laws of the UK and the US, with a particular focus on how extant employee rights are treated when a debtor employer initiates corporate insolvency proceedings. The commencement of formal insolvency proceedings by an employer affects employees’ rights and interests. Employment laws seek to protect employees’ rights and interests, while insolvency laws seek to promote corporate rescue, which may entail workforce changes. Consequently, this creates a tension between whose interest insolvency law should give primacy of protection. The book analyses how corporate rescue processes such as administration, pre-pack business sales, company voluntary arrangements, receivership and liquidation impact employee rights and protection during corporate rescue proceedings in both jurisdictions. It goes on to address how the federal system of government in the US and the diffusion of power between federal and state law jurisdictions impact a uniform code of employee protection during Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganisation proceedings. The book considers how an interpretative approach to law (Dworkin’s Interpretative Theory of Law) may be used to balance both employee protection and corporate rescue laws during corporate insolvency in the UK and the US. Of interest to academics, students and employment law practitioners, this book examines the tension between corporate rescue laws and employment protection laws during corporate insolvency in the US and the UK and how this tension may be remedied or balanced.
Corporate law and corporate governance have been at the forefront of regulatory activities across the world for several decades now, and are subject to increasing public attention following the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Law and Governance provides the global framework necessary to understand the aims and methods of legal research in this field. Written by leading scholars from around the world, the Handbook contains a rich variety of chapters that provide a comparative and functional overview of corporate governance. It opens with the central theoretical approaches and methodologies in corporate law scholarship in Part I, before examining core substantive topics in corporate law, including shareholder rights, takeovers and restructuring, and minority rights in Part II. Part III focuses on new challenges in the field, including conflicts between Western and Asian corporate governance environments, the rise of foreign ownership, and emerging markets. Enforcement issues are covered in Part IV, and Part V takes a broader approach, examining those areas of law and finance that are interwoven with corporate governance, including insolvency, taxation, and securities law as well as financial regulation. The Handbook is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary resource placing corporate law and governance in its wider context, and is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers in the field.
