What do you think?
Rate this book
The Elements of Bankruptcy
This casebook is an authoritative introduction to bankruptcy. Case studies, case notes, and examples illustrate points under consideration. Thought-provoking questions generate classroom discussion and hone students' legal reasoning. Students reap the benefit of the author's expert opinions, insight, and experience. Representative topics include the individual debtor, corporate reorganizations, and claims, property of the state, and the "Strong-Arm Powers."
- GenresLaw
299 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
1 person is currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Douglas G. Baird
25 books22 followersDouglas Baird is the Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.
Douglas Baird graduated from Stanford Law School in 1979. At Stanford he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as the Managing Editor of the Stanford Law Review. He received his BA in English summa cum laude from Yale College in 1975. Before joining the faculty in 1980, he was a law clerk to Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler and Judge Dorothy W. Nelson, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Mr. Baird served as Dean of the Law School from 1994 to 1999. His research and teaching interests focus on corporate reorganizations and contracts.
Douglas Baird graduated from Stanford Law School in 1979. At Stanford he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as the Managing Editor of the Stanford Law Review. He received his BA in English summa cum laude from Yale College in 1975. Before joining the faculty in 1980, he was a law clerk to Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler and Judge Dorothy W. Nelson, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Mr. Baird served as Dean of the Law School from 1994 to 1999. His research and teaching interests focus on corporate reorganizations and contracts.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 28, 2015
Interesting quotes:
"You run a Holiday Inn in Camden, New Jersey. You pay Holiday Inn a certain amount of money every month and you are obliged to run your hotel in a certain way. You must have ice machines on every floor. Outside of bankruptcy, your ability to keep the franchise will depend on whether you comply with these conditions. Courts will not second-guess their wisdom or purpose. (This may be a good thing. Judges make for poor hoteliers, and there is always the risk they will regard as unnecessary requirements that are in fact forward-looking. Holiday Inn, for example, insisted on wheel chair accessibility long before it was required to do so.)"
-Douglas Baird, Elements of Bankruptcy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Legal rules cannot cure nonlegal problems. Legal rules cannot make the imprudent wise and the unlucky fortunate. Nor can they insulate a poorly run business from the realities of the marketplace. The goals of bankruptcy are necessarily modest. Honest but unfortunate individuals should be given a fresh start. Corporations that have value as going concerns should be able to acquire a new capital structure, and those that cannot survive should be able to wrap up their affairs expeditiously. Bankruptcy law cannot work miracles, and more harm than good comes from seeking that which cannot be had. We should, in our efforts to make the bankruptcy system work, recall what my late colleague and mentor Walter Blum often observed: in law, ninety-give percent is perfection."
Douglas Baird, Elements of Bankruptcy
"You run a Holiday Inn in Camden, New Jersey. You pay Holiday Inn a certain amount of money every month and you are obliged to run your hotel in a certain way. You must have ice machines on every floor. Outside of bankruptcy, your ability to keep the franchise will depend on whether you comply with these conditions. Courts will not second-guess their wisdom or purpose. (This may be a good thing. Judges make for poor hoteliers, and there is always the risk they will regard as unnecessary requirements that are in fact forward-looking. Holiday Inn, for example, insisted on wheel chair accessibility long before it was required to do so.)"
-Douglas Baird, Elements of Bankruptcy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Legal rules cannot cure nonlegal problems. Legal rules cannot make the imprudent wise and the unlucky fortunate. Nor can they insulate a poorly run business from the realities of the marketplace. The goals of bankruptcy are necessarily modest. Honest but unfortunate individuals should be given a fresh start. Corporations that have value as going concerns should be able to acquire a new capital structure, and those that cannot survive should be able to wrap up their affairs expeditiously. Bankruptcy law cannot work miracles, and more harm than good comes from seeking that which cannot be had. We should, in our efforts to make the bankruptcy system work, recall what my late colleague and mentor Walter Blum often observed: in law, ninety-give percent is perfection."
Douglas Baird, Elements of Bankruptcy
Displaying 1 of 1 review