Bankruptcy Act of 1869
The Bankruptcy Act of 1869, also known as the Debtors Act, was designed to consolidate all of the bankruptcy laws then current in England. It is primarily known for abolishing the debtors' prisons in England.
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Significance
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The first article of the act abolished the imprisonment of a debtor solely for inability to repay his creditor. There were a number of other provisions that allowed imprisonment, including failure to pay a penalty for unpaid debts and failure to make payments ordered by a judge.
Other Provisions
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Most of the second and third parts of the act have since been repealed by other laws such as the 1883 and 1914 Bankruptcy Acts and the 1989 Statute Law Act. The lone remaining piece of the 1869 act specified imprisonment as the punishment for attempting to commit fraud toward creditors.
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Dickens' Influence
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It is largely believed that the works of Charles Dickens led to the passage of the act. Dickens' family spent time in debtors' prison, and he wrote about the problems with the system in a number of his books.
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