This book examines the legal framework that governs bankruptcy and insolvency law in Canada. It is organized in a way that illuminates the structure of insolvency law, its aims and objectives, and its foundational principles. The book will appeal to judges, insolvency lawyers and professionals as well as to students and others new to the field.

A careful analysis of the fundamentals of bankruptcy law.

The legal meaning of bankruptcy and insolvency law has often remained elusive, even to practitioners and scholars in the field, despite having been enshrined in Canada’s Constitution since Confederation. Federal jurisdiction in this area must be measured against provincial powers over property and civil rights, among others. Debt and Federalism traces changing conceptions of the bankruptcy and insolvency power through four landmark cases that form the constitutional foundation of the Canadian bankruptcy system: the 1894 Voluntary Assignments Case, Royal Bank of Canada v Larue in 1928, the 1934 Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act Reference Case, and the 1937 Farmers' Creditors Arrangement Act Reference Case. Together, these decisions ultimately produced the bedrock for modern understandings of bankruptcy and insolvency law. Thomas G.W. Telfer and Virginia Torrie draw on archival and legal sources to analyze the decisions from a historical and doctrinal perspective. This astute book demonstrates that the legal changes introduced by these landmark cases underpin contemporary bankruptcy and insolvency law and scholarship.

The Bankruptcy Law Picture Book: A Brief Intro to the Law of Bankruptcy, in Pictures is an illustrated guide that features helpful visual aids and diagrams explaining bankruptcy law.