|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: the purpose of defeating the severe intention of the laws relating to
bankruptcy. The effect of all laws which touch private interests is to
develop, enormously, the knavery of men's minds. The object of a
bankrupt, like that of other persons whose interests are thwarted by
any law, is to make void the law in his particular case.
The status of civil death in which the bankrupt remains a chrysalis
lasts for about three months,--a period required by formalities which
precede a conference at which the creditors and their debtor sign a
treaty of peace, by which the bankrupt is allowed the ability to make
payments, and receives a bankrupt's certificate. This transaction is
called the /concordat/,--a word implying, perhaps, that peace reigns
 Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |