ABSTRACT
Debt collection is a most complex process whose ramifications extend into many areas of social life. It is distinguished by an internal intricacy, being made up of ordered stages. Each stage is a different kind of activity guided by different ideas and governed by different sentiments. Each stage is organized by a particular grouping of institutions which have their own functions, conceptions of collection, relations with one another and links with institutions in adjoining stages. Enforcement itself is but a part of a larger economic, political and legal system of credit, consumption and market behaviour. It is patently impossible to present all the faces of so complicated an entity in one coherent model. Any manageable analysis must neglect or obscure vast tracts of potentially interesting terrain. 1 I shall thus try to make my description more intelligible by dwelling on a few major substantive and formal themes. These themes will lend order to discussion and permit a detailed focus.
