IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 ACC/0549
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: BANKRUPTCY COURT
Date(s): 1660-1920
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 1.83 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Court of King's Bench x Court of Queen's Bench
Court of Exchequer
Court of Bankruptcy
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Until 1841, the legal status of being a bankrupt was confined to traders owing more than £100 (this was reduced to £50 in 1842). Debtors who were not traders did not qualify to become bankrupt, but stayed as insolvent debtors, who were held responsible for their debts but unable to pay them, they remained subject to common law proceedings and indefinite imprisonment, if their creditors so wished. The legal definition of 'trader' came to include all those who made a living by buying and selling and included all those who bought materials, worked on them and then re-sold them. Those who wished to qualify as bankrupts, and thus avoid the awful fate of an insolvent debtor, sometimes gave a false or misleadingly general description of their occupations: "dealer and chapman" was very common.
The Bankruptcy Act of 1571 allowed commissioners of bankrupts to be appointed; so that a bankrupt could discharge his debts by sale of his assets, and then begin trading again with his debts cleared. The bankrupt's creditors would petition the Lord Chancellor to allow a commission of bankruptcy. These Commissioners were independent assessors who would decide whether the debtor was eligible for bankruptcy proceedings, and oversee the sale of his assets and repayment of his creditors. In 1832 the Court of Bankruptcy was established.
Source of information: The National Archives Research Guide "Legal Records Information 5: Bankrupts and Insolvent Debtors: 1710-1869" (available online).
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Legal documents presented to Bankruptcy Courts, including mortgages, assignments, leases, abstract of title, wills and probates, grants, copies of court rolls, admissions, releases, conveyances, agreements, covenants to surrender, letters of administration, deeds of partnership, bills of costs, indentures of fines and marriage settlements; all for premises in Middlesex. Also records of pleas before the King's Bench, Queen's Bench, the Court of Exchequer and the Exchequer of Pleas; all for Middlesex.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Bundles 01 - 81: Bankruptcy Court documents; Bundles 82a - c: King's Bench, Queen's Bench, the Court of Exchequer and the Exchequer of Pleas.
Conditions governing access:
Available for general access.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to these records rests with the Corporation of London.
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Deposited in 1956.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: November 2009 to February 2010