ABSTRACT
In medieval Italy, a moneylender who could not pay his debts had his bench or counter – his banco – ruptured or broken by his creditors. He was put out of business.
Today, a bankruptcy order is a formal declaration by the court that an individual is insolvent. The effect is that the bankrupt person’s financial affairs are put into the hands of a licensed insolvency practitioner, who collects in the bankrupt’s assets and shares them out among the creditors.
