PHEDRA WINTER SCHOOL: Corporate and mercantile bankruptcy, insolvency and debt: approaches from legal and economic history (Venice, 29-31 OCT 2024)

PHEDRA WINTER SCHOOL 

Corporate and mercantile bankruptcy, insolvency and debt: 

approaches from legal and economic history 

Venice, 29-31 October 2024 

Palazzi Minelli e Contarini - Sestiere Cannaregio, 3536 

Free entry 

Program 

October 29th 

12h00-13h15 Lunch 

13h15 Welcome words, introduction – Dave De ruysscher – Vrije Universiteit Brussels-Tilburg 

University  and Luisa Brunori – Cnrs/École Normale Supérieure. 

13h30-14h10 Albrecht Cordes – Goethe-Universität Frankfurt: The debtor's coat. Provisions on 

insolvency, bankruptcy and debtor protection in the law of Lübeck in the XIIIth century 

14h10-14h50 Giuseppe Speciale – Università di Catania: The relationship between ius commune and 

statutory law: bankruptcy procedures and the revocatory action 

14h50-15h10 Coffee 

15h10-15h50 Alarico Barbagli – Università della Magna Grecia: The "consilia" about insolvency and 

bankruptcy in the XIVth-XVth centuries 

15h50-16h30 Fleur Stolker – University of Cambridge: The forgotten history of bankruptcy, 1543- 

1624 

16h30-17h10 Jérôme Sgard – SciencesPo Paris: Insolvency proceedings in England (XVIIth-XVIIIth 

centuries) 

Drink at Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani 

20h30 Dinner 

October 30th 

9h00-9h40 Ron Harris – Tel Aviv University: The corporate attribute of limited liability in the XIXth 

century and its interaction with bankruptcy law 

9h40-10h20 Pierre-Cyrille Hautcœur – Paris School of Economics/EHESS: Bankruptcy history from 

the point of view of economic history 

10h20-10h40 Coffee 

10h40-11h20 Annamaria Monti – Università Statale di Milano: Insolvency and bankruptcy in 

XIXth and early XXth-century Italian legal doctrine 

11h20-12h00 Cristina Ciancio – Università del Sannio: Insolvency and bankruptcy in the Kingdom 

of Italy. Codes and commercial courts (XIX-XXth centuries) 

12h00-12h40 Justine Chauvel – Université Paris Est Créteil Val de Marne: The landlord's pledge over 

the commercial tenant's goods. A comparative study of its influence on tenant's bankruptcy in French, 

German, and English territories (XVIIIth-XIXth centuries) 

12h40-14h00 Lunch 

14h00-14h40 Thomas Max Safley – University of Pennsylvania – Law and institutions in early modern 

bankruptcy 

14h40-15h20 Maurits den Hollander – Tilburg University: Early modern insolvency legislation in 

Amsterdam 

15h20-15h40 Coffee 

15h40-16h20 Roberto Ganau – New York University: Imprisonment for debt and bankruptcy in 

Revolutionary England 

16h20-17h00 Mona Bouquin – Université de Dijon: Insolvency Law in the XIXth and XXth centuries: 

a Franco-German comparison 

17h00-17h40 Rodrick Van der Smissen – Vrije Universiteit Brussels: Roman law and the formative 

interpretation of history in the nineteenth-century insolvency law 

19h00 Dinner 

October 31st 

9h00-9h40 Francesca Fusco – Università di Padova: Italian insolvency and bankruptcy terms from the 

Middle Ages to the XXIst  century 

9h40-10h20 Emanuela Fugazza – Università di Pavia: A crime in search of definition: The bankruptcy 

of the merchant from the Ordonnance du Commerce to the Bankruptcy Law of 1942 

10h20-11h00 Thomas Telfer – Western University: Justifying a provincial bankruptcy and 

insolvency power for municipalities:  An analysis of Ladore v Bennett (1939) and its divergence from 

twentieth century federalism jurisprudence in Canada 

11h00-11h20 Coffee 

11h20-12h00 Virginia Torrie – Western University: The influence of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 

the development of the Canadian bankruptcy and insolvency law 

12h00-12h40 Juma Noah Omollo – Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory: 

Legal transfer of the English fraud doctrine for the regulation of bank failure to the Uganda Protectorate 

c. 1885-1965 

12h40-13h20 Máté Pétervári – University of Szeged: The compulsory non-bankruptcy settlement 

procedure in the practice of the Royal Regional Court of Kalocsa (1915-1929) 

13h30 Lunch 

https://phedraproject.wordpress.com/ 

Scientific committee: 

Dave De ruysscher – University of Tilburg/VUB     dave.de.ruysscher@vub.be 

Luisa Brunori – École Normale Supérieure / CNRS     luisa.brunori@ens.psl.eu

REMINDER CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: PHEDRA Winter School, 'Corporate and mercantile bankruptcy, insolvency and debt: approaches from legal and economic history' (Venice, 29-31 OCT 2024)[DEADLINE 20 AUG 2024]

  

Corporate and mercantile bankruptcy, insolvency and debt: approaches from legal and economic history

Venice, 29-31 October 2024

Call for applications

In October 2024, the PHEDRA network will organize a workshop on the history of insolvency and bankruptcy (Middle Ages-19th century). This workshop has the aim to delve into these themes and to explore the combined legal and economic aspects of phenomena connected to insolvency and bankruptcy. From the vantage point of economic history, insolvency is linked to credit, private and public ordering. Legal historians have emphasized the cultural aspects of insolvency regulations and the transplanting of remedies and proceedings.  The hybridity of the problem of insolvency, which touches upon both economic and legal questions, also in their combination, invites further reflection.

The workshop consists of a series of lectures by specialists on the topic and presentations by doctoral candidates on their research. 

PhD students working on a topic that is connected to the theme of the workshop are invited to apply. Accommodation will be provided and costs of travel will be reimbursed. 

The IRN PHEDRA project aims at developing a concerted approach to European research on the history of business law, from antiquity to the present day, apprehended in its « European ecosystem ». This theme remains little explored by historiography, which nevertheless underlines the extent to which commercial norms and practices constitute a fundamental element in the study of issues related to the historical transformation of our societies.

How to Apply
Applicants are requested to send a CV and an abstract of their PhD thesis (maximum 1 page) to the email address phedravenice@gmail.com before 20 August 2024.

If you have further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

Prof. L. Brunori

Prof. D. De ruysscher

BOOK: Emanuela FUGAZZA, Un reato in cerca di definizione. La bancarotta del commerciante dall'Ordonnance du commerce alla legge fallimentare del 1942 (Torino: Giappichelli, 2021) ISBN: 9788892121164, pp. 312, € 38,00

 

(Source: Giappichelli)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Collana: Futuro Anteriore|Sezione Monografie

Questo libro si propone di ricostruire la genesi, i contenuti e le ragioni del travaglio dottrinale consumato nel corso dell’Ottocento, e fino ai primi decenni del secolo successivo, intorno al più classico dei reati fallimentari. Le fonti ci restituiscono l’immagine di un solco profondo in tema di bancarotta fra la dottrina e la giurisprudenza, da un lato, e il diritto positivo, dall’altro. Su un versante, i giuristi, ancorati alla plurisecolare tradizione italiana, definivano la bancarotta come il fallimento doloso o colposo del commerciante. Sull’altro versante, i codici di commercio recepivano la costruzione della fattispecie criminosa di matrice francese. Risalente nelle sue linee fondamentali all’Ordonnance du commerce, essa riconosceva al fallimento, non già la posizione di evento del reato, bensì quella di condizione di punibilità. Detto contrasto fu superato sul piano dottrinale e giurisprudenziale solo negli anni Venti del Novecento, quando rappresentanti insigni della scienza penalistica e alcune sentenze della Cassazione senza più riserve abbandonarono la costruzione teorica tradizionale, offrendo della bancarotta una definizione finalmente aderente allo ius conditum.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emanuela Fugazza è ricercatore di Storia del diritto medievale e moderno presso la Facoltà di Giurisprudenza dell’Università degli Studi di Pavia. Nel 2006 ha conseguito il titolo di dottore di ricerca in Storia del diritto medievale e moderno presso l’Università degli Studi di Milano. È autrice della monografia Diritto istituzioni e giustizia in un comune dell’Italia padana. Piacenza e i suoi statuti (1135-1323), Padova, CeDam, 2009 e di articoli e saggi concernenti la storia del diritto statutario e la storia della giustizia, civile e penale, in età comunale e signorile.

The table of contents is available here.

More information with the publisher.

DATABASE: Konkurshistorische Datenbank Deutsches Kaiserreich (1879–1914) (Universität Mannheim/Universitätsbibliothek Mannheim) (OPEN ACCESS)

 

(image source: Universität Mannheim)

Introduction:

Die vorliegende Datenbank verzeichnet gegenwärtig 55.197 Konkursverfahren aus der Zeit des Deutschen Kaiserreichs. Sie umfasst den Zeitraum vom 1. Oktober 1879 bis zum 31. Juli 1914 (Inkrafttreten der Reichskonkursordnung bis Beginn des Ersten Weltkriegs). Enthalten sind die Konkurse ausgewählter Gerichtsbezirke, darunter die 15 bevölkerungsreichsten Städte zum Stichjahr 1895 (Berlin, Breslau, Chemnitz, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Hannover, Köln, Königsberg, Magdeburg, München, Nürnberg, Leipzig, Stuttgart), außerdem die Hansestädte Bremen und Lübeck, die Städte Dortmund, Duisburg und Essen sowie sämtliche Amtsgerichtsbezirke im Bereich der Landgerichte Königsberg (Allenburg, Fischhausen, Königsberg, Labiau, Mehlauken, Pillau, Tapiau, Wehlau), Mannheim (Mannheim, Schwetzingen, Weinheim) und Straßburg (Benfeld, Bischweiler, Brumath, Erstein, Hagenau, Hochfelden, Illkirch, Lauterburg, Niederbronn, Schiltigheim, Straßburg, Sulz unterm Wald, Truchtersheim, Weißenburg, Wörth an der Sauer). Insgesamt befinden sich aus dem genannten Zeitraum ca. 22 % aller Konkursverfahren, die im Deutschen Reich eröffnet wurden, in der Datenbank. Die Datenbank folgt den Grundsätzen Offener Wissenschaft (Open Science). Die Daten sind über diese Internetseite auf verschiedene Arten frei nutzbar (zur Lizenz). Das Datenmaterial ist mit der Digitalausgabe des Quellenwerks verknüpft, sodass die Entstehung des Datensatzes nachvollzogen und überprüft werden kann. Außerdem sind an dieser Stelle weitere Informationen zur wissenschaftlichen Nutzung der Datenbank verzeichnet.

(read more here) 

BOOK: Erika VAUSE, In the Red and in the Black : Debt, Dishonor, and the Law in France between Revolutions (Charlottesville: The University of Virginia Press, 2018). ISBN 9780813941417, $45.00

(Source: University of Virginia Press)

The University of Virginia Press is publishing a book on the history of debt imprisonment and bankruptcy in Revolutionary France next month.

ABOUT THE BOOK

"The most dishonorable act that can dishonor a man." Such is Félix Grandet’s unsparing view of bankruptcy, adding that even a highway robber—who at least "risks his own life in attacking you"—is worthier of respect. Indeed, the France of Balzac’s day was an unforgiving place for borrowers. Each year, thousands of debtors found themselves arrested for commercial debts. Those who wished to escape debt imprisonment through bankruptcy sacrificed their honor—losing, among other rights and privileges, the ability to vote, to serve on a jury, or even to enter the stock market.

Arguing that French Revolutionary and Napoleonic legislation created a conception of commercial identity that tied together the debtor’s social, moral, and physical person, In the Red and in the Black examines the history of debt imprisonment and bankruptcy as a means of understanding the changing logic of commercial debt. Following the practical application of these laws throughout the early nineteenth century, Erika Vause traces how financial failure and fraud became legally disentangled. The idea of personhood established in the Revolution’s aftermath unraveled over the course of the century owing to a growing penal ideology that stressed the state’s virtual monopoly over incarceration and to investors’ desire to insure their financial risks. This meticulously researched study offers a novel conceptualization of how central "the economic" was to new understandings of self, state, and the market. Telling a story deeply resonant in our own age of ambivalence about the innocence of failures by financial institutions and large-scale speculators, Vause reveals how legal personalization and depersonalization of debt was essential for unleashing the latent forces of capitalism itself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Erika Vause is Assistant Professor at St. John's University

More information here

CALL FOR ARTICLES: Rechtskultur - European Journal of Legal History 2018 (Bankruptcy - Debts - Credit)

(image source: Edition Rechtskultur)

The 2018 issue of the review Rechtskultur- European Journal of Legal History has as theme: Bankruptcy - Debts - Credit. Authors who want to submit a text to the journal, should send it to martin.loehnig@jura.uni-regensburg-de, before 15 October 2018. 

Rechtskultur is open to authors of all recognized areas of study irrespective of their university status. All that matters is that an article be of very high quality and in tune with the theme of the issue. The 2019 issue will be on Resistance against legal unification. For more information, see

http://www.uni-regensburg.de/rechtswissenschaft/buergerliches-recht/loehnig/edition-rechtskultur/zeitschrift-rechtskultur/index.html.

BOOK: "Ruin and Redemption: The Struggle for a Canadian Bankruptcy Law, 1867-1919 ", by Thomas G.W. Telfer (2014)

Thomas G.W.Telfer, University of Western Ontario Law, Ruin and Redemption: The Struggle for a Canadian Bankruptcy Law, 1867-1919, University of Toronto Press, Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History’s book series  (2014)

All information here

Description and Contents

In 1880 the federal Parliament of Canada repealed the Insolvent Act of 1875, leaving debtor-creditor matters to be regulated by the provinces. Almost forty years later, Parliament finally passed new bankruptcy legislation, recognizing that what was once considered a moral evil had become a commercial necessity. In Ruin and Redemption, Thomas GW Telfer analyses the ideas, interests, and institutions that shaped the evolution of Canadian bankruptcy law in this era. Examining the vigorous public debates over the idea of bankruptcy, Telfer argues that the law was shaped by conflict over the morality of release from debts and by the divergence of interests between local and distant creditors. Ruin and Redemption is the first full-length study of the origins of Canadian bankruptcy law, thus making it an important contribution to the study of Canada’s commercial law.