Troubled households: the early modern bankruptcy regime in Bern

Häusler, Eric (2021). Troubled households: the early modern bankruptcy regime in Bern. xviii.ch, 12, pp. 22-36. Schwabe Verlag 10.24894/2673-4419.00113

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This analysis of the early modern Bernese bankruptcy regime focuses on the second half of the eighteenth century and highlights the surprisingly modern and liberal attributes of the so-called Geldstag procedure. The study is interested in disclosing the ways in which Bernese society dealt with economic failure rather than treating bankruptcy simply as an extension of or a reaction to regular credit and debt obligations. To establish what sets the Bernese bankruptcy procedure apart from other bankruptcy regimes in Europe at the time, an examination of fundamental laws is combined with a qualitative analysis of selected household bankruptcies as well as a quantitative analysis of 263 cases. The emerging bankruptcy procedure can be described as open-ended, egalitarian, and process- oriented without relying on debtors’ prison. These aspects, typically described as achieve- ments of the nineteenth century in the context of evolving nation-states and capitalism, differ from other contemporary bankruptcy regimes. This raises questions which might guide future research: To what degree does the case of Bern represent an inconsequential exception in an international context? Could a more differentiated empirical picture and a praxeological shift in analytical perspective lead to a new aggregate interpretation of disparate bankruptcy regimes in time and space?

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