Statute of Bankrupts

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Statute of Bankrupts

Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Acte againste suche persones as doo make Bankrupte
Citation	34 & 35 Hen. 8. c. 4
Dates
Royal assent	12 May 1543
Repealed	1825
Other legislation
Repealed by	Bankruptcy Act 1825
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Statute of Bankrupts or Bankruptcy Act 1542 (34 & 35 Hen. 8. c. 4), was an act passed by the Parliament of England in 1542. It was the first statute under English law dealing with bankruptcy or insolvency. It was repealed by section 1 of the Bankruptcy Act 1825 (6 Geo. 4. c. 16).

The act contained an extremely long preamble which denounced debtors acting in fraud of their creditors, directed that the bodies of the offenders and all of their assets be taken by the requisite authorities and the assets be sold to pay their creditors "a portion, rate and rate alike, according to the quantity of their debts". Thereby the first bankruptcy statute also imported into English law for the first time the pari passu principle of distribution on insolvency.

These principles would later be heavily underscored by the House of Lords in the cases of National Westminster Bank Ltd v Halesowen Presswork & Assemblies Ltd [1972] AC 785 and British Eagle International Airlines Ltd v Compagnie Nationale Air France [1975] 1 WLR 758.