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History General

Reinventing Bankruptcy Law

A History of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act

by (author) Virginia Torrie

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
May 2020
Category
General, General, Legal History
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781487506421
    Publish Date
    May 2020
    List Price
    $83.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781487534134
    Publish Date
    May 2020
    List Price
    $83.00

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Description

Reinventing Bankruptcy Law explodes conventional wisdom about the history of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and in its place offers the first historical account of Canada’s premier corporate restructuring statute. The book adopts a novel research approach that combines legal history, socio-legal theory, ideas from political science, and doctrinal legal analysis. Meticulously researched and multi-disciplinary, Reinventing Bankruptcy Law provides a comprehensive and concise history of CCAA law over the course of the twentieth century, framing developments within broader changes in Canadian institutions including federalism, judicial review, and statutory interpretation.

 

Examining the influence of private parties and commercial practices on lawmaking, Virginia Torrie argues that CCAA law was shaped by the commercial needs of powerful creditors to restructure corporate borrowers, providing a compelling thesis about the dynamics of legal change in the context of corporate restructuring. Torrie exposes the errors in recent case law to devastating effect and argues that courts and the legislature have switched roles – leading to the conclusion that contemporary CCAA courts function like a modern day Court of Chancery. This book is essential reading for the Canadian insolvency community as well as those interested in Canadian institutions, legal history, and the dynamics of change.

About the author

Virginia Torrie is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Banking and Finance Law Review.

Virginia Torrie's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, The Manitoba Book Awards Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction
  • Commended, 2021 Walter Owen Book Prize awarded by the Canadian Foundation for Legal Research