Dictionary.net

A law relating to bankrupts and the procedure against them in the courts. A law providing a remedy for the creditors of a bankrupt, and for the relief and restitution of the bankrupt himself. A bankrupt law is distinguished from the ordinary law between debtor and creditor, as involving these three general principles: (1) A summary and immediate seizure of all the debtor's property; (2) a distribution of it among the creditors in general, instead of merely applying a portion of it to the payment of the individual complainant; and (3) the discharge of the debtor from future liability for the debts then existing. The leading distinction between a bankrupt law and an insolvent law, in the proper technical sense of the words, consists in the char- acter of the persons upon whom it is designed to operate,