Being in debt during that time was not an attractive concept but unfortunately since the systems were not as refined or regulated as they are in today’s world, it was almost unavoidable. It took years for the abolishment of the debtors’ prison with the United States abolishing them as early as 1831 in New York (Lepore, 2009). Debtors’ prisons were merciless and indiscriminate, holding men, women and children.
The harsh treatment of debtors is therefore not a new concept and in some places, it sees debtors losing property and livelihoods thanks to malicious actions of creditors through repossessions. When a creditor repossesses machinery in a plant, the company is unable to work and raise funds to pay off the debt. Bankruptcy laws in the past inclined to favor the creditors and when they presented debtors to the chancellor, it saw the repossession of his properties and if the money raised is not enough, then he served jail time. The focus of the bankruptcy laws was to ensure the creditor was protected. In the United States, bankruptcy laws were