Without Regard to Foreignness - The Reciprocal Equal Treatment of Foreign Creditors in the Early Modern German Territories

In the historiography on insolvency law, insolvencies are traditionally regarded as local affairs. As a result, historic rules on the treatment of foreigners in cross-border insolvency procedures have in general only been studied for as much as they were included in the insolvency law of a specific local or national entity. The development of the position of foreign creditors in insolvency cases throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is largely still a blind spot.

This chapter demonstrates how throughout the late seventeenth- and eighteenth centuries, the position of foreign creditors in the German territories fundamentally changed. With the analysis centred around Frankfurt creditors involved in insolvency procedures in other cities, it is seen that equal priority rights now became widely granted on the basis of reciprocity. Moreover, cities facilitated the inclusion of foreign creditors in insolvency procedures through improved administrative procedures.