Debt and Federalism

Landmark Cases in Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law, 1894-1937

By Thomas G.W. Telfer & Virginia Torrie
Categories: Law & Legal Studies, Legal History, History, Canadian History, Political Science
Series: Landmark Cases in Canadian Law
Publisher: UBC Press
Hardcover : 9780774867283, 284 pages, February 2022
Paperback : 9780774867290, 284 pages, February 2022
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774867306, 284 pages, February 2022
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774867313, 284 pages, February 2022

Table of contents

Introduction: An Untested Federal Power

1 The Voluntary Assignments Case (1894) and Lord Herschell’s Dicta

2 Royal Bank of Canada v Larue and the Brave New World of Bankruptcy Law

3 The Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act Reference Case and the Debtor’s Financial Condition

4 The Farmers’ Creditors Arrangement Act Reference Case and Rehabilitating Debtors

Conclusion: A Modern View of Bankruptcy and Insolvency

Notes; Bibliography; Index of Cases; Index

Description

The legal meaning of bankruptcy and insolvency law has often remained elusive, even to practitioners and scholars in the field, despite having been enshrined in Canada’s Constitution since Confederation. Federal jurisdiction in this area must be measured against provincial powers over property and civil rights, among others. Debt and Federalism traces conceptions of the bankruptcy and insolvency power through four cases that form the constitutional foundation of the Canadian bankruptcy system: the 1894 Voluntary Assignments Case, Royal Bank of Canada v Larue in 1928, the 1934 Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act Reference Case, and the 1937 Farmers' Creditors Arrangement Act Reference Case. Together, they produced the bedrock for modern understandings of bankruptcy and insolvency law.

Reviews

While the tradition of any book review is to mention a few blemishes, I was hard pressed to find any... This is an excellent, thought-provoking and informative book.

- Vern W. DaRe, University of Windsor

This book is a masterpiece of academic contribution enriching our understanding on the bankruptcy law development in Canada and beyond … I am overwhelmed by the quality of the in-depth analysis in this book.

- Zhang Zinian, University of Leeds