Scottish bankruptcy laws under review

The commission said existing bankruptcy legislation had "lost coherence" after being heavily amended

Proposals to "tidy up" Scottish bankruptcy laws have been put forward by the Scottish Law Commission.

The independent body has published a consultation paper on consolidating existing bankruptcy legislation.

It said the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985 had "lost coherence" after being heavily amended in recent years.

It added the proposals were intended to "remove anomalies, treat like cases in the same way or to omit provisions that no longer serve any purpose".

Most of the law proposed for consolidation is already contained in the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985.

But the commission said the legislation had since been heavily amended, most notably by the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007.

It continued: "Many of the provisions of the 1985 act are excessively long and the structure of the act has become difficult to follow with the result that the act has lost coherence."

The commission said it was also inviting suggestions for other amendments which would "seek to tidy up (as opposed to reform) the 1985 act".

Commission chairman Lord Drummond Young, said: "It is essential that the law in important areas such as bankruptcy should be stated in a clear and accessible form.

"The existing statutory provisions dealing with bankruptcy are lengthy, are cumbersome and difficult to use.

"Our aim is to remedy this by restating the law in a single coherent act. This will, we think, be of great assistance to all those who become involved in bankruptcy procedures."

The commission has prepared a draft of a Bankruptcy (Scotland) Bill to consolidate the legislation and an order which would give effect to some provisions of the bill in other parts of the UK.

The commission, which was set up in 1965 to promote the reform of the law of Scotland, worked closely with the Accountant in Bankruptcy in producing the drafts.

Responses are invited by 30 November.