Original scientific paper
Bankruptcy and Sequester of Property of Traders of Some Settlements of Dubrovnik in the 15th and 16th Century
Viktor Palić
; Commercial Court, Osije, Croatia
Abstract
In the Middle Ages, traders from sorne settlements of Dubrovnik were suffering the consequences of bankruptcy and sequester of there own property. For the purpose of direct presentation,t here were used analyzed examples from the territory of Bosnia and Serbia. In that, there was noticed that there was actually no difference between the period of 15th and 16th century. Operational difficulties of independent traders and their associations used to occur on occasions when they were not able to comply with their liabilities towards the lenders, mostly creditors and when they became over indebted. For such situation, the presumption of guilt was on the borrower, and only sporadically it was determined that the state of bankruptcy appeared because of late delivery of goods from the supplier. Although the relationship towards the debtors in bankmptcy and sequester was strict and judgmental, there were acts and measures which brought to milder utilization of bankruptcy and failure of the traders. On many occasions, before the bankruptcy there was often used remedy in a way of writing off the debt or lowering the indebted amount. Since the crediting of traders was performed with the guarantee of their assets, for the purpose of repaying the debt, both movable and fixed assets were taken from the debtor. Since the debtors were not able to pay their liabilities on many occasions, their assets were sold for the purpose of settling the lenders. That was the situation for Bosnian traders as well (Drijevo, Sarajevo, Foča) and also in Serbia (Smederevo, Belgrade). As the instrument of guarantee for the lenders, there were used oath, guarantee (message) from the main and side debtors, holding the assets of the debtor, promissory note, bill of exchange and contractual punishment. But the ultimate aim of bankruptcy and sequester over the assets of traders was not just settling the lenders, but also expected exit from the hard situation in which the debtor was. It was rightfully considered that helping the debtor to overcome the state of inability of paying their debts, creates positive atmosphere for further cooperation and doing business together. Therefore, traders of Dubrovnik, as well as lenders showed high level of skill of reaching optimal possibilities for better economical and market operation, by avoiding negative influence of occasional crisis and problems of market competition. Regarding the stated opinion, they can be used as bright example of protection of trading practice and accomplishing positive social contacts and dark numbers of bankruptcy period of commercial association.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
79610
URI
Publication date:
9.10.2008.
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