Cessio Bonorum

Cessio Bonorum (Lat. 'cession or surrender of goods'), a process which the law of Scotland borrowed from that of Rome, and which also appears in most of the continental systems. On making a surrender of estate to his creditors, the debtor was granted a judicial protection from imprisonment in respect of all debts then due by him. As, however, imprisonment for debt was abolished by the Debtors Act, 1880, except in the case of rates and taxes due, cessio as a process for the protection or liberation from imprisonment of insolvent debtors is now practically obsolete. The Act of 1880, however, introduced a new process of cessio, resembling sequestration, and really a cheap and summary method of distributing a small estate among the creditors. The petition must be presented in the sheriff-court either by a creditor or by the notour bankrupt himself. Notice is given in the Gazette, there is a meeting of creditors, the debtor is publicly examined, the sheriff grants a decree appointing a trustee and ordering the debtor to convey all his estate (except working tools, alimentary funds, and future acquisitions) to the trustee, who then ranks the various claims on the estate, subject to an appeal to the sheriff. A most important change was introduced by the Bankruptcy and Cessio Act, 1881, which provides for the first time that the debtor under a cessio may obtain a statutory discharge, but only if he pays 5s. per £1, or satisfies the sheriff that failure to pay such a dividend is not due to his fault. The process of cessio must be distinguished in some of its effects from the English and American assignment for the benefit of creditors under insolvent statutes. See BANKRUPTCY, INSOLVENCY, SEQUESTRATION; Goudy on Bankruptcy (1886).