The objectives of Bankruptcy Law in Comparative Law - France, the US, England and Spain

The objectives of bankruptcy law are varied and evolve over time and situation. Eradicating and punishing bad debtors and guaranteeing payment to creditors are traditional goals. Ensuring the survival of the company and preventing difficulties are modern goals. This diversity leads to a hierarchy of objectives. A comparative study contrasts pro-debtor and pro-creditor systems according to the priority of their identified objectives. It shows that the objective of legislations tends towards the salvaging of companies. Federal US law, founded on the principle of fresh start, inspires laws in Europe. Economic analysis of law reiterates the question of the objectives of bankruptcy law from the perspective of an efficient legal standard, explaining this tendency. The search for procedural and substantial efficiency guides the European Commission in the promotion of a single market. Therefore, consensus on the objective of salvaging the company makes harmonization of the substantive rules at the European level possible. The revision of Regulation (EC) N°1346/2000 on insolvency proceedings confirms the general acceptance of the idea of a second chance. The opposition between pro-debtor and pro-creditor systems diminishes, giving way to a mixed system. Each law attempts to move towards the reconciliation of conflicting interests, leading to the displacement of the value of respect for the word towards the concept, more difficult to define, but which founds binding obligation: trust.