Debt relief of debtors de lege ferenda and the protection of the creditorʼs property rights

Abstract

The relevance of the research topic is in the need to develop new ideas on the possible development of insolvency law in the event of an unexpected and unforeseen serious commercial or financial crisis of a structural nature. The purpose of the presented text is to indicate the possible directions of changes in the specific and characteristic insolvency institution of “debt relief”. The text was prepared using mainly a formal-dogmatic research method as the study is a general reflection on debt relief of an insolvent debtor (bankrupt), not connected with any particular legal system. It is a well-known and popular institution in many insolvency legal systems worldwide. However, when it comes to the details of the regulation, there may be even serious differences. The problem of debt relief is considered in the context of the protection of property rights of creditors. The creditorʼs claim is, after all, a component of his property. The study briefly discusses the arguments for the admissibility of debt relief in the context of the creditorʼs property right. An important part of the study deals with the issue of collective (group) debt relief of many debtors at one time. In the event of structural crises or as a result of special disturbances (e.g. wars, natural disasters), individual debt relief procedures may be too heavy a burden for the judicial system, and thus insolvency courts (other organs), due to extraordinary situation may be ineffective. In the course of the study, atten- tion was paid to some kind of redefinition of the insolvency debt relief structure. The practical value of the study is expressed in the possibility of its application in designing legal norms and establishing state policy in counteracting insolvency