Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published October 10, 2017 | Submitted
Report Open

Security Interests and Bankruptcy Priorities: A Review of Current Theories

Schwartz, Alan

Abstract

This paper reviews positivist theories respecting why firms issue secured debt and normative theories purporting to justify the first priority status that secured debt occupies in bankruptcy liquidations. It shows that both sets of theories leave much firm behavior and legal regulation unaccounted for. The current consensus to the contrary among legal scholars is thus misplaced.

Additional Information

I would like to thank John Borgo, David Carroll, Robert Forsythe, Michael J. Graetz, George Priest, Robert E. Scott and Louis L. Wilde for very helpful suggestions. This paper also benefited substantially from comments received at the Law and Economics Workshop at the University of Chicago and the USC Faculty Workshop. Portions of this paper appear in revised form in Alan Schwartz and Robert E. Scott, Commercial Law: Principles and Policies, 1991. Published as Schwartz, Alan. "Security interests and bankruptcy priorities: a review of current theories." The Journal of Legal Studies 10.1 (1981): 1-37.

Attached Files

Submitted - sswp334.pdf

Files

sswp334.pdf
Files (482.6 kB)
Name Size Download all
md5:21f9708aa83752d2f28cc9696041f575
482.6 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
January 14, 2024