A series of European experts have weighed in over the past twenty years on the proper way forward for preventing and treating consumer overindebtedness. This paper applies these expert recommendations in an analysis of the multitude of laws establishing (and revising) formal debt adjustment...

This article provides a detailed examination of the structure, sources, and ultimate content of the Islamic law of distressed debt. With specific illustrations from the Qur'an, sunna, and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), it orients non-specialists on the path to understanding where Islamic law...

This is a chapter from a forthcoming book on the treatment of former entrepreneurs in the Dutch personal insolvency law (the Wsnp). To contribute a comparative perspective, this chapter contrasts the Dutch law and practice with developments in the United States, England and Wales, Germany,...

The notion of compulsory debt clemency has come full circle during the past five millennia. This brief paper surveys this progression over three relatively distinct periods. In the first period, rulers in ancient Sumer and Babylon imposed periodic debt amnesties to maintain social stability,...

This paper explores the problems and processes that led to the birth of consumer bankruptcy in continental Europe, a process that began in Denmark in January 1972 and culminated with the adoption of the Danish consumer debt adjustment act, Gældssaneringslov, on May 9, 1984. While this law is...

Before the dust had settled on the complete overhaul of the U.S. consumer bankruptcy system in October 2005, Sweden remodeled its consumer bankruptcy law on May 19, 2006. After over a decade of trial and error under its 1994 original law, Sweden has just adopted a streamlined new law to make its...

This Article takes advantage of a rare double opportunity to break new ground in commercial, consumer, and comparative law. First, it offers one of the first detailed analyses of key elements of the new U.S. consumer bankruptcy reform law, which will go into effect on October 17, 2005. Second,...

Comparative analyses of the treatment of excessive consumer debt are more relevant today than ever before, particularly given the recent overhaul of U.S. consumer bankruptcy and rapid developments in several new European consumer bankruptcy systems. This article is the next in a series designed...