Revisiting the State of Consumer Insolvency in South Africa after Twenty Years: The Courts’ Approach, International Guidelines and an Appeal for Urgent Law Reform (2)
Journal of Contemporary Roman-Dutch Law, Vol. 77, p. 527-546, 2014
20 Pages Posted: 2 May 2015
Date Written: November 30, 2014
Abstract
Twenty years ago the authors of this article considered the then issue of friendly sequestrations against the backdrop of insolvency law reform, reasons behind the development of friendly sequestrations, the approaches of the courts towards the granting of sequestration orders and the push-back evident in some judgments. The findings at the time were that South Africa still has an Insolvency Act that hails from 1936 which has not moved with the times in many instances since it is still steeped in a pro-creditor approach which gives rise to a situation where only a privileged few debtors can successfully apply for a sequestration order that will ultimately lead to their rehabilitation and that would in turn provide them with a discharge of pre-sequestration debt. One of the questions arising is whether such an approach is compatible with modern day consumerism that is largely based on consumer credit.
Keywords: sequestration, friendly sequestration, insolvency law reform
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