At the End, the Creditors Win. Pre-Insolvency Proceedings in France, Belgium and the Netherlands (1807-c. 1910)

Over the course of the nineteenth century, throughout continental Western Europe, the rules concerning insolvency were changed, yet not fundamentally. The Napoleonic Commercial code of 1807 continued to mark the contents of new legislation. Even after the military influence of France waned, the code was kept in liberated territories, or it was a model for national codifications and laws. The commercial code of 1807 imposed the dispossession of insolvent merchants and entrepreneurs and the public sale of their effects as default proceedings. New laws on the matter were targeted at different goals. In a first stage, from around 1810 until about 1870, legislation in France, Belgium and the Netherlands was not primarily aimed at facilitating the continuity of businesses in distress. Rather, legislators purported to reduce sanctions for “honest but unfortunate” debtors in order to ensure their cooperation, which allowed creditors to control insolvents’ estates at an early stage. Another policy goal of clemency towards debtors that had not committed criminal acts leading up to their insolvency was present, but it became less important in the mentioned period. Debt relief had to be decided on by the creditors, and was no longer considered a matter of princely grace. A comparison of developments in France, Belgium and the Netherlands demonstrates high similarities in the intended effects of proceedings. Pre-insolvency proceedings were “quick exit” proceedings, allowing the benevolent debtor – at least in theory – to restart easily, that is after the liquidation of his insolvent estate.