The second edition of the first and only concise introduction to American business insolvency law, this volume provides a succinct overview of American business bankruptcy as it is actually practiced, integrating the law as written and implemented, and now includes coverage of the Small Business Reorganization Act.

A practical resource for novice and seasoned bankruptcy lawyers, this second edition includes recent case law and substantial updates. It provides an understanding of the bankruptcy claims process, rights and duties of debtors and creditors, priority scheme, the objection process, and grounds for challenging discharge of a particular claim. Includes legal analysis and answers important questions.

Chapter 11: Reorganizing American Businesses, The Essentials is part Aspen’s new Essentials series, which takes a “forest rather than the trees” approach to teaching. This concise paperback concentrates on the fundamentals of business bankruptcy law and uses an informal, essay-like style to explain them. In addition to developing the important ideas in business bankruptcy, the author also takes a look at some of the more important operational elements in order to bring the material to life. Suitable for use with any casebook, this text clarifies the important topics and bridges the gap of understanding for the student.

Debt was an inescapable fact of life in early America. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, its sinfulness was preached by ministers and the right to imprison debtors was unquestioned. By 1800, imprisonment for debt was under attack and insolvency was no longer seen as a moral failure, merely an economic setback. In Republic of Debtors, authorBruce H. Mann illuminates this crucial transformation in early American society.

This is a conversational text that provides a comprehensive view of the law of American business failure.

The "self-made" man is a familiar figure in nineteenth-century American history. But the relentless expansion of market relations that facilitated such stories of commercial success also ensured that individual bankruptcy would become a prominent feature in the nation's economic landscape. In this ambitious foray into the shifting character of American capitalism, Edward Balleisen explores the economic roots and social meanings of bankruptcy, assessing the impact of widespread insolvency on the evolution of American law, business culture, and commercial society. Balleisen makes innovative use of the rich and previously overlooked court records generated by the 1841 Federal Bankruptcy Act, building his arguments on the commercial biographies of hundreds of failed business owners. He crafts a nuanced account of how responses to bankruptcy shaped two opposing elements of capitalist society in mid-nineteenth-century America--an entrepreneurial ethos grounded in risk taking and the ceaseless search for new markets, new products, and new ways of organizing economic activity, and an urban, middle-class sensibility increasingly averse to the dangers associated with independent proprietorship and increasingly predicated on salaried, white-collar employment.