A judge or justice is an official who presides over a court. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions.

Judges in the Legal System
There are significant differences between the role of a judge in the common law system descended from British practice, and civil law systems descendant from continental European judicial practice. The descriptions below are necessarily archetypical. Details vary from judicial system to judicial system. In many cases, the judicial systems have experienced convergent evolution, expressly or unconsciously adopting similar practices or operating in a manner that minimizes the impact of formal differences between the archetypical role of each system's judges.

For example, while common law judicial procedure generally contemplates a single evidentiary trial, many cases are actually resolved through testimony taken from witnesses in isolated depositions prior to trial that support written presentations to a judge. Similarly, while civil law judges must have some statutory point of departure for their legal rulings, there are accepted methods of legal reasoning that often afford them greater latitude to fit the law to the circumstances of an unusual case then a stark statement of the underlying principles of the system would suggest. This can serve a purpose similar to the common law method of legal reasoning known as stare decisis.


Judges in common law legal systems
In common law countries, judges usually operate within the adversarial system of justice, and the trial level, usually preside over court proceedings as the sole judge present, with only narrow exceptions (e.g. in the United States, certain election law cases).


Professional Background
Common law judges are generally appointed or elected from among practicing attorneys after prior careers as practicing attorneys, although many receive brief educational programs specific to judging once taking the bench. Judges are frequently drawn from the ranks of barristers, as opposed to solicitors where a distinction is made between the two as separate legal professions.

Many U.S. states permit non-lawyers to serve as justices of the peace or as inferior jurisdiction judges in rural areas, but this practice is generally limited to less serious criminal offenses and small claims. Federal judges are not required by law to be attorneys, but the practice of appointing attorneys to the federal bench is almost universal.


Judges and Juries
In the common law system, when there is a jury trial in the trial courts, the jury generally decides questions of fact (guilty or not guilty, whether a party was negligent, etc.) while a single judge decides questions of law (under common-law systems, one of the judge's most important powers is to craft jury instructions).

In a trial before a judge, sometimes called a "bench trial", a single judge decides issues of both law and fact. Outside the United States, only a very narrow category of civil cases are tried before juries and usually criminal cases are tried before juries only in more serious cases. In the United States, cases where a jury is not available are the exception, rather than the norm, even in relatively minor civil and criminal matters. In United States practice, the right to a jury usually hinges on historical distinctions made between law and equity in Britain prior to the adoption of the United States Constitution.

Because both civil and criminal procedure in common law systems developed in the context of a system where the ultimate decisions were usually deferred to a jury (even though this is often not the case outside the United States in civil cases), common law judges are limited in their power to resolve matters prior to a full trial, even if they have all information that they feel they need to resolve a case involving disputed facts.

Historically, in Europe in the Middle Ages, juries often stated the law by consensus or majority and the judge applied it to the facts as he saw them. This practice no longer exists. The power of juries to determine the law in a manner contrary to that dictated by the trial judge, or even ignore the law (which is often called jury nullification), has been controversial in American jurisprudence from very early on in American history. Generally speaking, current practice in U.S. law is to formally deny that such a power exists. But, U.S. law also maintains procedural protections such as a prohibiting testimony regarding jury deliberations, and disallowing government appeals of acquittals by juries in criminal cases, that have the practical effect of making it possible for juries to make their own determinations of law.

U.S. legal practice also has an institution called a grand jury which is presided over on a day to day basis by a prosecutor, rather than a judge, although it is ultimately under the supervision of a judge. This institution investigates crimes via the subpoena power and screens serious criminal charges to determine if a prosecution is justified.


Appellate Judging
In common law practice, appeals are usually decided by a panel of judges, generally three appellate judges chosen at random in an intermediate appellate court and the entire composition of the court in the relevant highest appellate court in the jurisdiction, although decisions made by a subordinate or inferior jurisdiction judge are sometimes reviewed by a single judge.


Judges in civil law systems
In most civil law jurisdictions with inquisitorial systems, judges go to special schools to be trained after graduating with a law degree from a university; after such training they often become investigating magistrates. However, the inquisitorial system is not used in all civil law jurisdictions; it is primarily in use in countries of Southern Europe that were influenced by Napoleon's Code Napoleon, such as France, Italy, Spain, Portugal etc. In Northern Europe, the adversarial system is predominant in criminal matters. Nevertheless, judges in both Northern and Southern Continental Europe generally do not have backgrounds as practicing attorneys (or advocates), even though they are legally trained.

In the civil law system, serious matters are almost always decided at the trial level by at least three judges, and sometimes more, often in combination with lay persons in serious criminal manners, although one of those judges may take the lead in gathering evidence in a case. In civil law systems typically only the equivalent of U.S. small claims and misdemeanors are handled by a single trial judge.

For example, in Finland and Sweden, there are two kinds of judges in district courts: a legally-trained judge functions as the president of the court, while judges elected for a four-year term from the population, without any special legal training, serve as lay members of the court. Judges in special courts and appellate courts are always legally trained. Lay judges do not function like a common-law jury. In the usual case, three lay judges in district courts hear criminal cases in cooperation with a legally trained judge, each judge – legally trained or not – having an individual vote. However, in some jurisdictions, such as Denmark, criminal cases in severe matters, such as homicide, require a trial by jury, where the jury decides upon the issue of mens rea. Issues of law – and also the assessment of what has factually been proven to have taken place – is the responsility of the judge, who guides the jury by means of a jury instruction. Civil cases, however, are heard exclusively by legally trained judges.

In civil law practice, appeals are usually decided by a panel of multiple judges. State courts can be called district courts. The highest appellate court in a civil law jurisdiction, often translated "supreme court" in English, is typically organized more like an intermediate appellate court in common law practice, in that decisions are usually made by a panel of judges that does not include all judges who are a member of that court. Also unlike common law practice, judges are typically assigned to appeals in the highest appellate court based on specialties in a particular type of law, rather than at random. Typically the only appellate court in a civil law system in which all members of the court will typically decide a case that will operate in a civil law country is the constitutional court, if any.


Non-judges with judicial power
Certain non-judges are vested with judicial power by virtue of their political or religious office, or their position as a responsible government employee.

In Japan, police officers can order punishments for minor offenses without approval from a judge. In U.S. military law, military officers can dispense justice for minor military law infractions without holding a court-martial, and also preside over courts-martial involving more serious offenses. A number of jurisdictions give mayors of municipalities judicial authority similar to a justice of the peace or magistrate. Many courts with probate jurisdiction give court clerks quasi-judicial authority as "registrars" of the court. Members of county commissions and city councils in the United States often have quasi-judicial authority in zoning matters. And, legislators sometimes sit in a judicial capacity, such as when they rule on impeachment charges of governmental officials, and in the United Kingdom, when law lords, who are officially members of the House of Lords, a primarily legislative body, hear appeals in legal cases.

Historically, in the United Kingdom, certain matters, such as annulments of marriages and division of personal property of deceased persons, were the responsibility of ecclesiastical courts, in which clergy presided. Many countries, such as Israel and Pakistan and Iran, continue to have religious courts, particularly in matters of family law, that operate in addition to their ordinary courts with full authority to enter legally binding decisions. Other countries, such as Afghanistan under its newly adopted constitution, have a unitary court system in which some judges have primarily secular training, while others judges have primarily religious training.

Often parties in contractual relationships with each other enter into "arbitration agreements" which vests quasi-judicial authority to resolve disputed between the parties in a non-judge chosen by mutually agreed means. Sometimes these persons are legally trained, and sometimes they are not, but have some relevant subject matter expertise. Civil justice in the Roman Empire, which provided some of the foundational doctrines for Western systems often handled civil disputes through an arbitration-like mechanism. Courts can typically be called upon to enforce a final decision rendered by an arbitrator pursuant to an arbitration agreement if necessary.


Power of judges
In common law countries, such as the United States, and those with roots in the Commonwealth of Nations, judges have a number of powers which are not known to exist, or are not acknowledged to exist, in civil law legal systems, which collectively make the judiciary a more powerful political force than in civil law countries.

One of these powers is the "contempt of court" power. In a common law system, a judge typically has the power to summarily punish with a fine or imprisonment any misconduct which takes place in the courtroom, and to similarly punish violations of the court's orders, after a hearing, when they take place outside the courtroom. This power, in turn, may be used by common law judges to enforce orders for injunctive relief, which is a court order to take or refrain from taking some particular act, directed at the individual who must do so. This power is a vestige of authority that members of the nobility had when they personally presided over disputes between their subjects. It has the effect of giving common law country judges great power to fashion remedies, such as school desegregation orders and restraining orders directed at individuals. Civil law judges, in contrast, outside of specialized courts with narrowly delineated powers, generally lack contempt power or the power to impose injunctive relief.

Another power of every judge in the United States, generally right down to the level of the magistrate, is the power to declare a law unconstitutional and invalid, at least as applied in a particular case. In contrast, most civil law countries limit this power to a special constitutional court, and all other judges are required to follow the enacted laws, even if the judge personally believes those laws to be unconstitutional, in the absence of an order from the constitutional court. However, if a person believes that a law applied against them in court is unconstitutional, they can apply for consideration in the constitutional court and, if the law is indeed declared unconstitutional, file an appeal against the ruling based on the now-invalidated law.

Similarly, in the common law system, cases in which the government administration is at issue, known as public law cases, for example, suits claiming violations of civil rights by government officials, are often heard by the same judges who handle criminal cases and disputes between private individuals. In contrast, in civil law countries, only designated judges or quasi-judges (such as the Conseil d'État in France) can hear public law cases, and ordinary judges can hear only criminal cases and cases involving private parties.

Judges in a common law system are also empowered to make law guided by past precedent, or to choose to ignore past precedent as no longer applicable, based on a concept known as "stare decisis" ("to stand by what has been decided"), in cases where no statute or prior case clearly mandates a particular result, and in cases where past precedents, for some reason, no longer appear to provide firm guidance as to the current state of the law. For example, in a case of "first impression" which has never arisen in a publicly reported case in a state, a judge must choose which rule will apply, usually informed by decisions which have been made in similar cases in other jurisdictions and based on the public policies involved. Judges in civil law systems, in contrast, are strictly forbidden from "making law" and, as a general rule, are not bound by or even encouraged to refer to precedents established in prior similar cases.

Civil law judges, likewise, have some powers not usually held by common law judges. Most importantly, a common law judge is usually required to base a decision almost exclusively on the evidence provided by the parties to a case during the course of a trial, or a hearing, or in documents filed with the court. In contrast, a civil law judge frequently has the authority to investigate the facts of a case independently of evidence provided by the parties to that case, in what is known as an "inquisitorial" role.


Oversight of judges
Federal judges in the United States (except those who have recess appointments) serve life terms for their period of "good behavior." Once appointed, state judges in the United States usually serve terms for a fixed period of years, after which they must be re-elected, face a retention election, or face reappointment by an appropriate authority. The law governing judicial elections in the United States is in flux with the general tendency being to discard historical limitations on the ability of a judge to campaign based upon judicial philosophy.

Most judicial systems in the United States have procedures for investigating breaches of judicial ethics and disability. Lapses of judicial ethics include matters such as taking bribes, open defiance of a binding court order, ruling upon a case in which the judge has a personal interest, failure to account for court funds, failure to conduct court proceedings with a suitably judicial demeanor, harassment of judicial employees or a judge's conviction of a serious offense unrelated to judicial service. Disability complaints often involve allegations that a judge is beginning to show symptoms of alcoholism, dementia or an inability to stay awake.

Complaints about a judge's judicial ethics or disability may ordinarily not contest the merits of the determination made by the judge, which can only be contested in the appellate process. Judges in the United States generally have absolute immunity for personal liability in the form of money damages for their discretionary judicial acts.

Almost every state and the federal government provides the legislature with the authority to remove a judge for cause in a quasi-judicial impeachment proceeding in which the legislative body hears evidence and renders a super-majority verdict limited to removal from office. Often the standard is "high crimes and misdemeanors" or failure to engage in "good behavior" while in office.

Many state judicial systems also have either a special commission or board charged with investigating alleged lapses of judicial ethics or disability, or vest that power in their highest court, usually a state supreme court. Such determinations may be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States only to the extent that they involve the final decision of a state court system and pose a federal law question.

Some violations of judicial ethics, such as taking bribes or converting public funds, are also federal or state crimes investigated and prosecuted by the appropriate prosecutor.

In the federal system, there is no outside grievance body with the authority to discipline a U.S. Supreme Court justice. The U.S. Supreme Court has supervisory authority over the entire federal judiciary, in addition to its appellate responsibilities, and it has used this authority to establish certain procedures for investigating and addressing lapses of judicial ethics by federal judges.

In Canada, Justices (Justices of Peace) are appointed provincially to preside over minor cases, while Judges are appointed federally. Neither can be removed from office until they reached the retirement age of 65, 70 or 75 (depending on the type of appointment) unless they are found to have been in serious misconduct, in which case, the House of Commons and Senate (federally appointed) or the Judicial Council (provincially appointed) can pass a motion to remove a judge/justice from office. [1]


Symbols of office
Being a judge is usually a prestigious and solemn position in society. A variety of traditions have become associated with the occupation.


In France, during ordinary hearings, judges wear a black gown.In many parts of the world, judges wear long robes (usually in black or red) and sit on an elevated platform during trials (known as the bench).

In some countries, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations, judges sometimes wear wigs. The long wig often associated with judges is now reserved for ceremonial occasions, although it was part of the standard attire in previous centuries. A short wig resembling but not identical to a barrister's wig would be worn in court. This tradition, however, is being phased out in Britain in non-criminal courts.[1]

American judges frequently wear black robes. American judges have ceremonial gavels, although American judges have court deputies or bailiffs and "contempt of court" power as their main devices to maintain decorum in the courtroom. However, in some Western states, like California, judges did not always wear robes and instead wore everyday clothing. Today, some members of state supreme courts, such as the Maryland Court of Appeals wear distinct dress.

In the People's Republic of China, judges wore regular street clothes until 1984, when they began to wear military-style uniforms, which were intended to demonstrate authority. These uniforms were replaced in 2000 by black robes similar to those worn in the rest of the world.

In Oman, the judge wears a long stripe (Red, Green and White), while the attorneys wear the black gown.


Titles
In the United States, a judge is addressed as "Your Honor" or "Judge" when presiding over the court. The judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the judges of the supreme courts of several U.S. states and other countries are called "justices".

The justices of the supreme courts usually hold higher offices than the justice of the peace, a judge who holds police court in some jurisdictions and who typically tries small claims and misdemeanors. However, the state of New York inverts the usual order, with the Supreme Court of the State of New York being the most important trial court, and the Court of Appeals being the highest court; thus, New York trial judges are called "justices", while the judges on the Court of Appeals are "judges". New York judges who deal with guardianships, trusts and estates are known as "surrogates".

A "senior judge" in U.S. practice, is a retired judge who handles selected cases for a governmental entity while in retirement on a part-time basis.

Subordinate or inferior jurisdiction judges in U.S. legal practice are sometimes called magistrates, although in the federal court of the United States, they are called "magistrate judges". Subordinate judges in U.S. legal practice appointed on a case-by-case basis, particularly in cases where a great deal of detailed and tedious evidence must be reviewed, are often called "masters" or "special masters" and have authority in a particular case often determined on a case by case basis.

Judges of courts of specialized jurisdiction (such as bankruptcy courts or juvenile courts) were sometimes known officially as "referees," but the use of this title is in decline. Judges sitting in courts of equity in common law systems (such as judges in the equity courts of the U.S. State of Delaware) are called "Chancellors".

Individuals with judicial responsibilities who report to an executive branch official, rather than being a part of the judiciary, are often called "administrative law judges" in U.S. practice and commonly make initial determinations regarding matters such as eligibility for government benefits, regulatory matters, and immigration determinations.

Judges who derive their authority from a contractual agreement of the parties to a dispute, rather than a governmental body are called arbitrators, and typically do not receive the honorific forms of address, and do not have the symbolic trappings, of a publicly appointed judge.

In England and Wales (and much of the Commonwealth) judges of the higher courts are addressed as "My Lord" or "My Lady" and referred to as "Your Lordship" or "Your Ladyship". Circuit Judges are addressed as "Your Honour" and all lower judges, magistrates, and chairs of tribunals are addressed as "Sir" or "Madam". Magistrates are still addressed as "Your Worship" in South Africa and Canada, mainly by solicitors, but this practice in other Commonwealth countries is nearly obsolete. Masters of the High Court are addressed as "Master". When a judge of the High Court who is not present is being referred to they are described as "Mr./Mrs. Justice N" (written N J). In the House of Lords, judges are called Law Lords and sit as peers.

In France, the presiding judge of a court is addressed to as "Mr./Mrs. President" (Monsieur le président/Madame le président), in Germany as "Mr./Mrs. Chairman (Herr Vorsitzender/Frau Vorsitzende).


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Tube maintenance company Metronet is facing the threat of administration unless a last minute rescue plan can be found, the BBC has learnt.
The firm needs an injection of cash to stay afloat and keep operating, BBC business editor Robert Peston said.

The threat of collapse was triggered by a decision to limit the amount of money Metronet would be given, he added.

Metronet has been under fire since a report found that it would overspend by about £750m on maintenance contracts.

The company, a flagship of the government's Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), which use private sector money to fund state projects, has been embroiled in a battle over who should foot the bill.

"Metronet has been a disaster for its owners, WS Atkins, EDF, Balfour Beatty, Thames Water and Bombardier," the BBC's business editor said.

"Unless there's a last minute intervention by the Treasury this morning, Metronet will go into administration today," Mr Peston added.

The BBC's business editor explained that the latest problems at Metronet had been triggered by a decision of the PPP arbiter to award only a fraction of the cash Metronet said it needed to keep going over the coming year.

The arbiter's role is to ensure that this largest of PPPs delivers value for money.

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House builders have been accused of "walking away" from developments which flood by an MP who is calling for them to fund flood insurance.

Labour MP Alan Simpson wants developers to pay for insurance for up to 20 years after they build on flood plains.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he will consider the proposal.

But the Home Builders Federation said its members should not have to insure new homes as flood risk is assessed before they get planning permission.

Alan Simpson's proposal would mean house builders taking out an insurance bond in case a development floods after the buyer moves in.

Mr Simpson said thousands of families now face the prospect of their houses being plagued by regular flooding and the struggle to find insurance.

He believes a change in approach by developers is essential to protect home-buyers in the future.

"It would either make them think twice about building on flood plain land or it would make them change the design basis upon which they're built," he told BBC Radio 4's Money Box.

Government figures show that in 2005, 9% of new homes were built in flood risk areas.

Environment Agency statistics show that between 2003 and 2006, 707 developments were approved by local councils against its advice.

Flood defences

The insurance industry is also calling for change.

An agreement with the government means cover should continue to be offered to homeowners even if they live in flood risk areas.

Malcolm Tarling from the Association of British Insurers has warned that if homes are built on flood plains, the government must provide adequate flood defences.

All reasonable risks should be properly assessed and managed at the planning stage

John Slaughter, Home Builders Federation

He said: "The rising risk of flooding means that homes should not be built on the floodplain.

"If they are, and there are no - or inadequate - flood defences in place, then home insurance may be difficult to get or more expensive."

Developers maintain that the pressure for new houses means it is impossible to find sites to build on which are entirely free from the risk of flooding, and the priority is to assess the risk accurately.

John Slaughter from the Home Builders Federation, said planning restrictions are already in place.

"We now have a planning policy for flood risk management which all developers have to apply when they're applying for planning permission," he told the programme.

"All reasonable risks should be properly assessed and managed at the planning stage and we believe that's what the current system will do."

Meanwhile, the government has announced that its flood prevention budget from will increase from £600m to £800m.

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LONDON (Reuters) - The number of European companies filing for insolvency will rise as restructuring deals get too complex, making it more difficult to reach an agreement with the parties involved, restructuring professionals said.

Financing behind leveraged buyouts has become ever more intricate in recent years, with the number of layers in the capital structure multiplying to include senior, second-lien, high-yield bonds, mezzanine and subordinated payment-in-kind debt as yield-thirsty investors have sought greater risk exposure.

The investor base has also changed and become more disparate, with a growing number of hedge funds and collateralised loan obligation (CLO) funds taking part in lending, replacing the traditional banks.

"The structures are getting too complicated, it will get to the point that senior creditors just won't talk to the subordinates, they won't give them any value, so we'll see more insolvencies," said Peter Marshall, managing director at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, a restructuring advisory firm, during the Distressed Debt conference in London on Thursday.

"Before, you had the senior guys doing the right thing, but going forward, you won't get that," Marshall said.

Schefenacker , a German auto-parts maker, recently completed a restructuring, avoiding insolvency, that took about a year to put together. The deal was reached because "everybody wanted to," Marshall said.

However, British printing company Polestar filed for insolvency earlier this year after negotiations excluded some creditors.

"When you're trying to get consensus, some of these deals are going to blow up," said Tony Alvarez, managing director of restructuring boutique Alvarez & Marsal, during the conference.

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England's secondary curriculum is being overhauled to "focus on getting the basics right", the government says.
Presenting the changes Schools Secretary Ed Balls said there would be "no dumbing down".

The changes aim to protect traditional aspects of the curriculum but free up a quarter of the day so teachers can focus more on individual students.

Subjects such as personal finance and cookery are likely to be included - plus languages like Mandarin and Urdu.


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Bailiff (from Late Latin bajulivus, adjectival form of bajulus) is a governor or custodian (cf. bail); a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offices and duties vary greatly.

Medieval bailiffs
British Isles
The term was first applied in England to the king's officers generally, such as sheriffs, mayors, etc., and more particularly to the chief officer of a hundred. The county within which the sheriff exercises his jurisdiction is still called his bailiwick, while the term bailiff is retained as a title by the chief magistrates of various towns and the keepers of royal castles, as the high bailiff of Westminster, the bailiff of Dover Castle, etc. Under the manorial system a bailiff was in charge of superintending the cultivation of the manor (see Walter of Henley) .


France
Under the ancien régime in France, the baliy was the king's representative in the bailliage (bailiwick), charged with the application of justice and control of the administration. In southern France, the term generally used was sénéchal who held office in the sénéchaussée.

The administrative network of baillages was established in the 13th century over the king's land (the domaine royal), notably by Philippe Auguste. They were based on the earlier medieval fiscal and tax divisions (the "baillie") which had been used by earlier soverein princes (such as the Duke of Normandy). The creation of the royal bailliages reduced prior existing judicial courts to a subaltern rank; these lower courts were called:

prévôtés royales supervised by a prévôt appointed and paid by the bailli
or (as was the case in Normandy) vicomtés supervised by a vicomte (the position could be held by non-nobles)
or (in parts of northern France) châtellenies supervised by a châtelain (the position could be held by non-nobles)
or, in the south, vigueries or baylies supervised by a viguier or a bayle.
The court or tribunal of the bailliage was presided by a lieutenant général du bailli. Tribunals in bailliages and sénéchaussées were the first court of appeal for lower courts, but the court of first instance for affairs involving the nobility. To appeal their decisions, one turned to the regional parlements. In an effort to reduce the case load in the parlements, certain bailliages were given extended powers by Henri II of France: these were called présidiaux. Bailliages and présidiaux were also the first court for certain crimes (these cases had formerly been under the supervision of the local seigneurs): sacrilege, lèse-majesté, kidnapping, rape, heresy, alteration of money, sedition, insurrections, and the illegal carrying of arms.

By the late 16th century, the role of the "bailli" had become merely honorary, and judicial power was invested solely in the lieutenant général of the bailliage. The administrative and financial role of the bailliages and sénéchaussées declined in the early modern period (superseded by the king's royal tax collectors and regional gouverneurs, and later by the intendants), and by the end of the 18th century, the bailliages, which numbered into the hundreds, served only a judicial function.

In French, a court bailiff is called a "huissier de justice".

Modern bailiffs
British Isles

England
In England, the bailiff of a franchise or liberty is the officer who executes writs and processes, and impanels juries within the franchise. He is appointed by the lord of such franchise (who, in the Sheriffs Act 1887, § 34, is referred to as the bailiff of the franchise).

The bailiff of a sheriff is an under-officer employed by a sheriff within a county for the purpose of executing writs, processes, distraints and arrests. As a sheriff is liable for the acts of his officers acting under his warrant, his bailiffs are annually bound to him in an obligation with sureties for the faithful discharge of their office, and thence are called bound bailiffs. They are also often called bum-bailiffs, or, shortly, bums. The origin of this word is uncertain; the New English Dictionary suggests that it is in allusion to the mode of catching the offender. Special bailiffs are officers appointed by the sheriff at the request of a plaintiff for the purpose of executing a particular process. The appointment of a special bailiff relieves the sheriff from all responsibility until the party is arrested and delivered into the sheriff's actual custody.

By the County Courts Act 1888, it is provided that there shall be one or more high-bailiffs, appointed by the judge and removable by the lord-chancellor; and every person discharging the duties of high-bailiff is empowered to appoint a sufficient number of able and fit persons as bailiffs to assist him, whom he can dismiss at his pleasure. The duty of the high-bailiff is to serve all summonses and orders, and execute all the warrants, precepts and writs issued out of the court. The high bailiff is responsible for all the acts and defaults of himself, and of the bailiffs appointed to assist him, in the same way as a sheriff of a county is responsible for the acts and defaults of himself and his officers. By the same act (§49) bailiffs are answerable for any connivance, omission or neglect to levy any such execution. No action can be brought against a bailiff acting under order of the court without six days' notice (§52). Any warrant to a bailiff to give possession of a tenement justifies him in entering upon the premises named in the warrant, and giving possession, provided the entry be made between the hours of 6 A.M. and 10 P.M. (§ 142). The Law of Distress Amendment Act 1888 enacts that no person may act as a bailiff to levy any distress for rent, unless he is authorized by a county-court judge to act as a bailiff.


Scotland
The Scottish form of this post is the bailie. Bailies served as burgh magistrates in the system of local government in Scotland before 1975 when the system of burghs and counties was replaced by a two-tier system of Regional Councils and District Councils. The two-tier system was later replaced by a system of unitary authorities.

Under the new arrangements the bailies were abolished and replaced by Justices of the Peace serving in the District Courts of Scotland, these posts no longer holding any authority within the local authority as an administrative body. However the term Bailie is still used as an honorary title by Glasgow City Council for a number of senior councillors who can deputise for the Lord Provost.

The Scottish equivalent of a sheriff's bailiff or high bailiff is the sheriff officer (for the Sheriff Court) or the messenger-at-arms (for the Court of Session). These positions have been abolished by §60 of the Bankruptcy & Diligence &c. (Scotland) Act 2007, and replaced with the office of Judicial Officer under §57(1) of that enactment.


Channel Islands

In the Channel Islands the bailiff is the first civil officer in each of the two bailiwicks. He is appointed by the Crown, and generally holds office for life. He presides at the Royal Court, and takes the opinions of the jurats; he also presides over the States, and represents the crown in all civil matters. Though he need not necessarily have had legal training, he is usually selected from among those who have held some appointment at the island bar.


Isle of Man
The High Bailiff is the head stipendiary magistrate in the Isle of Man.


United States
In the United States bailiffs, sometimes known as marshals or court officers, are the law enforcement arm of the court. They keep order in the court, serve legal process or other court documents, and take charge of juries when the court is not in session. Also bailiffs will provide general security for the courthouse and its staff. Generally the local sheriff's office provides deputy sheriffs to fill this function.

In the state of Vermont, the High Bailliff is a constitutional officer elected in each county, responsible for filling the role of sheriff when the office-holder is unable, such as when he is a party to the matter at hand. The responsibilities of the high bailiff are defined in state statute.

In the state of New York, NYS Court Officers are sworn peace officers and are employed by The New York State Office of Court Administration, not local sheriff's departments. Utilizing an independent, state law enforcement agency that is separate from local departments displays the impartiality of the judicial system as well as unifies statewide security procedure. Three NYS Court Officers were killed during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. Dozens of Court Officers from the courts in lower Manhattan responded to the scene prior to the collapse of the towers.

The State of Michigan also has court officers appointed by the district court to serve process, as well as executing Orders to Seize Property (formerly known as Execution Against Property), and enforcing landlord-tenant evictions (Writ of Restitution). In some cases, court officers have the authority to arrest subjects with outstanding civil bench warrants. Court officers are usually subcontractors, being sworn by the court administrator, under the supervision of the judicial counsel. In counties that do not have court officers, civil process is usually forwarded to the sheriff's office to execute.

The State of Maine's Judicial Branch has a division within the Administrative Office of the Courts known as the State Marshal Service. Those assigned are fully sworn Deputy Marshals to provide physical security and law enforcement services to the various Superior, Family, Supreme, and District Courts as well as their respective judicial staff. These Marshals are state level law enforcement officers, trained through the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and hold the same power and duties throughout the State of Maine.


Canada
Bailiffs in Canada are very different to those in The United States of America. Bailiffs are responsible for the service of legal process. Duties of the bailiff include the service of legal documents, repossession and evictions in accordance with court judgments, application of wheel clamps and the execution of arrest warrants. They receive special training and now must have a degree in Paralegal Technology to become a bailiff. Bailiffs are only allowed to be "armed" with handcuffs on duty.


Other uses of the word
As most people's contact with bailiffs is when a bailiff comes to take property to enforce debt, in former times in The Fens of eastern England, the term "Bailiff of Bedford" was often used as slang for destructive floods of the River Great Ouse.

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If your business was affected by the recent flooding in Yorkshire then you are likely wondering how you are going to carry on. Many companies will require expensive repair work before they are able to continue trading and this can lead to insolvency before the doors even re-open.

If your business is now in debt and you would like help getting it back on its feet then call us. We understand your needs and will focus on the best option for you, not for your creditors.

With the aid of a government scheme called a Company Voluntary Arrangement or CVA we can reduce your monthly repayments to a manageable level, allowing you to continue trading. In many cases a CVA can also write off a percentage of the debt, giving you room to breathe.

Unlike the alternatives (Administration, Bankruptcy, Liquidation) a CVA allows you to continue to run your company and offers the chance for your company to recover.

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CONSUMER legal advocates have raised concerns about emerging for-profit businesses targeting those on the brink of bankruptcy, warning that in many cases the fee-taking organisations were increasing the burden on those facing insolvency.

The Consumer Credit Legal Centre in Sydney argued that instead of reducing the number of bankruptcies, various for-profit providers may have the perverse effect of increasing the overall number of people pushed into bankruptcy.

In a submission to the Productivity Commission's review of consumer protection, it singled out service providers in three main areas: debt consolidators, debt agreement administrators and credit repair businesses.

The report says there are legitimate debt consolidation businesses available through mainstream lenders, essentially offering to refinance people's loans in one package at a lower overall interest rate.

But it adds: "There are businesses which target those in serious financial difficulty in order to gouge considerable profit while offering illusory benefits to consumers.

"These businesses take upfront fees that are large multiples of industry averages and place people in loans that they clearly cannot afford."

These businesses targeted consumers in danger of losing their home, at a time when they were ill-equipped to rationally evaluate a complex refinancing.

The report was also critical of the role of debt agreement administrators.

What are known as Part IX debt agreements allow heavily indebted people to come to a repayment agreement with their creditors through an administrator, although the effect on a person's credit record is the same as bankruptcy.

The centre raised concerns that the profit motive of administrators, who receive fees if someone chooses to make repayments under a Part IX agreement, was not necessarily leading to the right outcomes.

"Some CCLC clients do not appear to have even been insolvent at the point of entering a debt agreement," the centre said.

The centre raised the precedent in the United Kingdom in which regulators had expressed concerns that marketers of similar Individual Insolvency Agreements had contributed to a sharp spike in overall bankruptcies.

Finally, the centre argued so-called "credit repair" businesses, which offered to "repair" people's credit records, could only "repair" inaccuracies in a report and otherwise would be breaking the law.

"Business ventures which are designed to make money from the plight of consumers whose main problem is that they don't have enough money [are] essentially flawed," the submission stated.

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INSOLVENCY figures for the six months to the end of June 2007 show the construction and engineering sectors suffering the biggest fallout.


They accounted for 37% of all corporate failures over the period according to consultancy Farrell Grant Sparks.

However the figures reveal a sharp reversal in the rate of insolvencies over the same period last year.

Between January and June 2007, 144 Irish companies were placed in voluntary liquidation, High Court liquidation, receivership or examinership.

That’s a fall of 26% and “bucks the trend”, said Declan Tate, the corporate recovery and insolvency partner of the group.

Given the slowdown in the economy and the continuing rise in interest rates affecting consumer and business confidence “the figures for the first half of this year present something of an anomaly”, he said.

They are down from 195 in the first half of last year to 144 for the half year to end June 2007.

That compares with 208 for the six months of 2005, a remarkable performance in the changed economic circumstances, he said.

Geographically, Dublin continued to be the black spot in the country, accounting for 41% of failures or a total of 59 against 93 last time.

Next worst in the league table of company failures was Kildare at 13. That compared with nine previously. Kildare, Clare and Wicklow were the only counties to show a worsening in performance.

Clare recorded a level of nine against three last time while closures in Wicklow rose from four to nine.

Cork’s company failure level came in at 12, down from 15, ranking it third in the table of companies that ceased to function as going concerns during the period.

“If you compare these to the number of corporate failures recorded in the same period for 2005, the decrease becomes even more apparent showing a staggering 31%,” said Mr Tate.

While construction and engineering constitute the worst performing sector the report said the numbers were still down from 71 in 2006 to 53 this time round.

It added the improvement was due to the fact that the sector was better capitalised, adding that it was also benefiting from more hands-on management of working capital requirements.

Historically these have been primary factors in failure within this sector.

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Hamburg insolvency partner Sven-Holger Undritz has been selected by the local court to act as insolvency administrator to furniture maker Schieder Moebel’s holding company.

The instruction is a coup for the firm as it is expected to take years to complete, with various subsidiaries filing for insolvency in addition to the parent company.

Schieder, which is Europe’s biggest furniture maker, narrowly avoided insolvency in April after securing loans from banks but since then some of its former directors have become embroiled in accusations of manipulating the company’s balance sheet.

Last-ditch attempts to sell the entire group collapsed late last month with potential investors concerned that the acquisition was too risky given the ongoing investigations. However, numerous law firms are expected to win roles for potential bidders interested in buying the subsidiaries.

The Schieder group employs more than 11,000 staff across 41 locations in Europe and Asia, servicing more than 5,000 customers.

Undritz’s objective is to help keep the business running, save jobs and find acquirers for the company’s assets to try to bring it out of insolvency. He is working alongside a large team from White & Case acting for various subsidiaries. Other insolvency partners involved include Klaus Pannen (Hamburg), Biner Baehr (Duesseldorf), Claudia Jansen (Frankfurt) and Bettina Schmudde (Hamburg).

Undritz told Legal Week: “We were trying to sell the whole group but a lot of potential investors said the whole operation was too risky, so now we are talking to investors and hope they will be willing to buy parts of the group. We have around 20 lawyers working around the clock on this. It is one of the biggest insolvency cases Germany has had for many years.”

In Germany insolvency lawyers are regularly appointed by the courts to act as administrators with Undritz serving in this capacity for local German courts since 1998.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was the corporate adviser to Schieder until the insolvency proceedings started and is still acting for the company on some matters.

No insolvency filings have been made for profitable subsidiaries in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Poland.

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Bad debts, disputed invoices and reluctance by the banks to provide further funding have led to the downfall of high-profile Hiab dealer Lorry Loaders, according to its liquidators. Creditors, including Hiab UK, Plant Equipment and Volvo Truck and Bus, are unlikely to receive any of the £560,000 they are owed now that the Wisbech, Cambs industrial equipment supplier is being wound up. Hiab UK and Hiab UK (Equipment) alone are owed more than £220,000.

According to insolvency practitioners the company had experienced problems in 2003 when a 10% increase in the cost of its purchases led to a £58,000 loss.

An accountant was employed to sift through its accounts and the insolvency report says: "A discrepancy was found within suppliers' accounts and after thorough investigation on both sides this was not resolved." Estimated losses for the year ending June 2006 were £55,000 cashflow problems due to slow payments compounded the company's problems. Director Peter Bavister put £32,000 of his own money into the business to pay salaries.

He also talked to five banks about funding but concerns over Lorry Loaders' £121,000 loan account prevented a deal being struck.

Further bad debts and a dispute with its factoring company over £31,000 led to it being placed into creditors' voluntary liquidation on 26 April. When CM rang Lorry Loaders we were told by Hiab East Anglia spokesman Nathan Cockman that this company would be trading from Lorry Loaders' old premises: "Obviously we are doing the same sort of work in the same area." Bavister could not be contacted not respond as CM went to press.


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UK business directors are being warned they could find themselves liable if they do not get up to speed with new legislation coming into force on 1 October of this year.

The Companies Act 2006, will introduce sweeping changes designed to simplify and improve present law. However, it will also created new detailed obligations for directors, putting duties previously developed in case law, into writing.

Chris Jones, a Partner in the insolvency and recoveries team at Irwin Mitchell, warned that it is in a director’s best interests to prepare for the change. He said: “If directors fail to meet their obligations they may well find themselves personally liable for any adverse consequences suffered by the company’s various stakeholders.”

The Act will require directors to act in a way that they consider most likely to promote the success of their company, including taking into account long-term consequences of their decisions, and maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct.

Directors will also have to account for the impact of company operations on the community and environment. For example, if a business is forced to make redundancies, it must be able to show that it considered the full effect on the community, or face legal consequences.

However, Mr Jones was keen to point out the new legislation does bring uncertainty in some areas. He said: “Exactly how businesses will have to operate in some respects is still pretty uncertain and is only likely to be shaped by cases brought after the act comes in.

“In the meantime, directors will need to make good faith judgements regarding issues governed by the new legislation and if in doubt, take professional advice,” he added

Mr Jones advised that businesses should prepare for the legislation by reviewing their processes, procedures and policies, and record the reasons behind decisions, showing that each decision had been made in light of their statutory obligations.

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Biofuels Corporation seeks re-structuring as market conditions hinder business. One of Europe's biggest biodiesel producers has drafted a re-structuring plan in a bid to avoid insolvency. Biofuels Corporation, based at Seals Sands on Teeside, has proposed a deal which would leave 94% of the company owned by Barclays Bank. The company admits that it can only continue trading with Barclays' support.

Biofuel chairman Mike Buzzacott says:
"Given the difficult trading backdrop, and the level of existing debt, the board has concluded that it should enter into restructuring discussions with Barclays to seek to create a platform from which the group could fulfil its potential as a significant force in the renewable transport fuels market."

A statement explains: "The combination of higher vegetable oil prices and lower biodiesel prices have together meant that the company has been unable to make profits from the production of biodiesel." An emergency general meeting will discuss the re-structuring on 23 July. If approved the plan will take effect immediately. The company is expected to cancel its membership of the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on 2 August.

Under the deal Barclays would cancel £40m of the company's debt in exchange for 94% of the shares. Biofuels Corporation began selling biofuel in April 2006 by September the plant had been tested at production rates of 30 tonnes/hour which represents more than 90% of capacity.


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Around 13,000 companies become insolvent each year and in many of these cases the best chance of saving jobs or recovering any of the investors' capital is to find a buyer for the business.

New owners can often find value in a firm where others have failed, but such rescue bids face a major barrier in the form of the new Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (Tupe) rules. The original Tupe regulations were introduced in 1981 to protect the pay and conditions of employees upon the sale or transfer of a business.

Business recovery professionals have been warning ever since that the burdens they impose put off potential purchasers who would otherwise be willing to take on the risk of buying a failed business by imposing on them uncertain liabilities for employee debts and onerous obligations, such as pre-purchase terms and conditions with regard to employees.

So with the new Tupe regulations, which came into force on 6 April 2006, the Government attempted to address these concerns. The overriding principle under Tupe 1981 was that any kind of variation to terms and conditions in the context of a transfer was void. The new rules provide a mechanism for businesses that are subject to certain insolvency proceedings to be exempted from some of the provisions that would ordinarily apply.

They limit the transfer of certain liabilities in formal insolvency proceedings. In some cases debts to employees can be met by the National Insurance Fund (NIF). They also allow changes to be made to the employment terms.

However, far from inspiring buyers with a newfound sense of confidence, the new regulations have created widespread confusion. The main problems are that they are very badly drafted, the language vague and confusing, it is impossible to determine when exactly they apply and the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI's) guidance contradicts the regulations. The regulations have already received serious criticism from the corporate recovery community, particularly R3, the Association of Business Recovery Professionals, which continues to lobby Parliament for them to be revoked, or at least amended.

R3 feels that the DTI ignored its consultation recommendations and argues that consequently the regulations are worded poorly and offer little or no certainty. Lord Hunt of Wirral argues that the rules both fail to specify the types of UK insolvency proceedings to which they are intended to apply and fail to make clear which liabilities will pass to a purchaser.

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SCOTTISH music store chain Fopp was today on the verge of administration, just days after it closed its doors for an extraordinary stock take.

The firm has called in Ernst & Young (E&Y) to look at its options, which include administration, while some staff claim they have been told they will not receive their wages.

Fopp, which started as a stall in an arcade in Glasgow in 1981 by Gordon Montgomery and has since built up a network of around 50 stores nationwide, has been in talks with its bankers and E&Y administrator Colin Dempster after it stopped online sales and credit card transactions in its stores.

A spokeswoman for E&Y said: "We have been brought in to discuss the options with the management."

But she insisted Mr Dempster had not yet been appointed by the court as an official administrator.

Some staff claimed they had been told they would not receive their pay packets today and intimated that they would be "protesting in the strongest terms at their extremely bad treatment by this company".

Fopp opened its latest store in Cumbernauld just three weeks ago, but last week closed all of its shops, claiming it was undergoing a massive "stock taking" exercise. On its website, the retailer says it can no longer take online sales due to "circumstances beyond our control".

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Controversial stockbroker Pacific Continental Securities, awarded the Guardian Money accolade as "the worst investment firm of the year" last December, has gone bust.

The firm's collapse came just days after the Financial Services Authority banned it from taking on new business.

A new company, Caspian Stockbrokers, legally formed just 24 hours before the FSA pulled the plug on Pacific Continental, has now bought most of its business from Smith & Williamson, the insolvency specialists called in to wind it up.

And, in a further bizarre move, a rival stockbroker has accused Pacific Continental of plagiarism by copying its research material almost word-for-word but passing it off as its own.

The FSA action was not unexpected. It had plenty of evidence of mis-selling and unsuitable advice, including scores of complaints to the Financial Ombudsman. Guardian Money first warned of the broker in 2004 and advised readers to steer clear of it several times more recently.

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June 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Systems Inc. (USEY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said it may face bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings if it is unable to raise funds to meet some UK financing arrangements.

The company said it is currently expects a shortfall of up to $3.2 million in 2007 working capital in its UK gas assets and is currently evaluating cost saving measures intended to reduce such shortfall. (Reporting by Anup Roy in Bangalore)


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HSBC chairman Stephen Green warns that credit glut could 'end in teas'

The chairman of HSBC, the UK's largest bank, has warned the excessive leverage underpinning so many deals could 'end in tears' if a major deal collapses.

In an interview with the FT Stephen Green said he was 'worried by the degree of debt in some big ticket transactions nowadays' and that something was going 'end in tears'.

Green's comments follow similar warnings from 3i head Philip Yea and Alchemy Partners boss Jon Moulton, and come as private equity faces intense scrutiny from unions and MPs over the use of debt to fund takeovers.

Green also warned that in the event of a collapse, a corporate recovery would be very difficult because risk had been parcelled out to so many parties.

He did say, however, that a single major insolvency was 'unlikely' to question 'the solvency of one particular institution or even the viability of the whole system'.

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MPs from Leeds yesterday called on the Treasury and tax officials to challenge the creditors' vote that handed control of a debt-free Leeds United to Ken Bates and his associates last month.

The Liberal Democrat Phil Willis who, along with Labour's George Mudie and Colin Burgon held a Westminster meeting with the Treasury minister, Ed Balls, the paymaster general, Dawn Primarolo, and the sports minister, Richard Caborn, said: "We are trying to get the Treasury and HMRC [Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs] to challenge the administrator's decision by July 3. There was £7.7m owed to the taxman and that is no small matter. We had assurances this morning that the taxman is taking this very seriously and we are optimistic a challenge will be raised before [next Tuesday's] deadline.

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After 20 months of negotiations over restructuring and wage cuts, Delphi Corp. and the UAW announced on 22 June that they had reached a tentative agreement and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with General Motors covering site plans, workforce transition and other “comprehensive transformational issues”. The agreement is subject to local union branch ratification and approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

"If ratified, we believe this agreement will be a significant milestone in our transformation and a major step towards emergence (from bankruptcy)," said John Sheehan, Delphi's chief restructuring officer, adding, "The Memorandum is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the UAW, Delphi and General Motors teams." Delphi said it would not provide further commentary on the details of the Memorandum, and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and UAW Vice President Cal Rapson said details were being withheld based on explanation and ratification meetings by local unions.

Some U.S. media reports suggested that the UAW had agreed to hourly wages being cut from $27 to $18.50.

Spun out from GM in 1999, Delphi filed for Chapter 11 US bankruptcy protection in 2005. GM is exposed to costs of over $7bn (£3.5bn) related to Delphi’s insolvency.


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Soon-to-be prime minister Gordon Brown must act to try to reduce the amount of debt people in the UK have, the Liberal Democrats have said.

Mr Brown is set to take on the role of prime minister on June 27th, but opposition MPs have already said that one of Mr Brown's first tasks must be to deal with rising debt levels - which are forcing more people to consider IVAs.

The Liberal Democrats' shadow chancellor, Vince Cable, calculated that personal debt as a proportion of income has risen from 105 per cent in 1997 to 164 per cent last year, mortgagesolutions-online.com reports.

Mr Cable commented: "When rates rise as expected this summer and probably in the autumn too, many households will not be able to cope.

"As chancellor, Gordon Brown neglected to tackle this ticking time bomb and we are already seeing rising numbers of repossessions and personal bankruptcies.

"As prime minister, he must take urgent action to tackle spiralling levels of personal debt before more families find themselves on the street."

Figures from the Insolvency service show that 13,233 IVAs were issued in the first quarter of 2007.


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County Court Judgement is the term for a judgement made against a person or company for debt in the county court. Generally if a CCJ is paid in full within 30 days of the date of the judgement it won’t appear in the credit register. CCJ’s are a matter of public record. They are catalogued and held for 6 years with the Registry Trust. If a judgement is settled after the 30 day period it will be entered into public record and this will affect your credit rating.

If a County Court rules against you for defaulting on a debt, it will make an order that you must repay a creditor the debt. A CCJ will then be listed on your credit record. Having a CCJ may mean that you are turned down for future loans, or be expected to pay a higher rate than other customers. The Scottish equivalent of an English CCJ is a Decree.

County Court Judgement. A court order against a debtor to pay money owed. Details of the CCJ are usually entered on the Register of County Court Judgements. Most entries stay on the Register for six years. Once Judgement has been made against you, the creditor can then ask the court to recover the debt in various ways, including the use of an attachment of earnings order and Bailiffs.

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TL Risk Solutions has launched a product aimed at protecting commercial landlords from rising insolvency.

The risk specialist says with UK consumers now the most indebted in Europe, recent statistics have shown a rise in insolvencies in the first quarter of 2007 of nearly 24% on the same quarter last year.

It says as well as having devastating consequences for those involved, there is the inevitable impact of insolvency on associated businesses, particularly the landlords and managing agents.

TL Risk Solutions is currently working with an insurer to provide cover for exactly this type of risk, should a commercial tenant become insolvent.

Gavin McLaren, business manager for TL Risk Solutions Credit division, says: “This form of cover provides landlord’s with protection against a loss arising from the insolvency of a commercial tenant.

“As well as covering a loss arising from unpaid rent, cover is extended to include up to twelve months loss of rental income whilst the property is vacant.

“In this way it secures a valuable income stream and maintains income whilst a new commercial tenant is sought or a property refurbished.

“With the recent introduction of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme for private landlords we are doing all we can to make sure that our landlord indemnity scheme will cover any issues that may arise should the deposit scheme be extended to commercial properties in the future.

“There are also major benefits to the tenant as there is the potential to replace cash deposits thereby freeing up working capital.”

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Debtor is one of the account balances in financial statements. Usually it is presented as one of current assets.

In writing ledger accounts, a debtor's amount is written on the debit (Dr) side, as the name suggests. Debtor as it appears in balance sheet connotes same meaning as the accounts receivable (USA accountancy). In other words, a Debtor is someone who owes you money. It is the opposite of a Creditor who is someone to whom you owe money.

In economics a debtor (or a borrower) owes money to a creditor.

If the money owed becomes beyond the possibility of repayment, the debtor faces insolvency or bankruptcy; in the United Kingdom and some states of the United States until the mid-19th century, debtors could be imprisoned in debtor's prisons.

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People borrowed more money in the first quarter of 2007 than they did in 2006, meaning that they may need debt solutions like IVAs in the future, a new study shows.

Consumer website Unbiased.co.uk found that UK consumers borrowed 41p for every £1 they saved in the first three months of 2007. This compares to 35p in the final quarter of 2006.

In total, consumers took on almost £15 billion worth of secured and unsecured debt in the first quarter of 2007 - about £100 million more than in the three months before.

"It is worrying to see that savings rates have dropped by £6 billion compared to last quarter," the website's chief executive, David Elms, added.

"People need to realise that their savings are a crucial part of their financial planning and that the amount they save should act as an emergency fund to cover their outgoings and borrowings.

"Personal debt in the UK continues to rise and, as such, all the conscientious effort being made on saving money is being undone by continued increasing usage of credit cards, loans and overdrafts."

Indeed, recent figures from the Insolvency Service indicated that there were 4.7 per cent more IVAs in the first three months of the year when compared to the previous quarter.

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The £11.1bn takeover of Alliance Boots appeared to have cleared its most important hurdle on Tuesday after the health and beauty group’s pension trustees agreed a funding package with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

After weeks of tense negotiations, KKR agreed to increase its cash payment to the pension fund to meet a shortfall of £305m claimed by the trustees. The private equity group is to pay £418m in cash over ten years - or a net present value of £305m - to buttress the fund against the threat of the company’s insolvency.

KKR has also put up a security package where the fund would have a priority claim over £200m in the event of insolvency and a claim that ranks equal with senior bank lenders over an additional £400m.

Trustees took legal advice over the possibility of blocking the takeover if they had failed to reach agreement with KKR. The deal is likely to take some heat out of Wednesday’s encounter between Dominic Murphy, European head of health care and consumer products at KKR, and MPs on the Treasury select committee who are examining the role of private equity.

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MORE Sydney families are being pushed to the wall by financial pressures despite a three-decade low in unemployment.

There were 6940 bankruptcies, debt agreements and personal insolvency agreements in Sydney last financial year, an increase of 16.4 per cent on the previous year. Another 5250 were registered between last June and February, suggesting the total this financial year could push towards 8000. That compares with just 4544 in 1999-2000.

Labor has used the figures from the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia to highlight a rising trend in personal insolvency over the past six years.

The number of personal bankruptcies and debt agreements across Sydney rose by more than half between 1999-2000 and 2005-06. Parts of western Sydney have been hardest hit with a rise of 99 per cent in Blacktown and 70 per cent in the outer west. A slump in property prices since 2004 and relatively high rates of unemployment in some parts of west and south-west Sydney may have contributed to the surge in bankruptcies and debt agreements.

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IVMD, the Inverness medical device developer, has revealed a desperate cash shortage in its most recent accounts.

The company has admitted that it has less than £1000 left in its bank accounts, is surviving on cash handouts from a related company, and its lenders have begun discussions about how best to avoid insolvency.

Nasdaq-listed IVMD, which currently trades at $0.06 a share, recently won headlines for creating a pregnancy monitoring device which can detect that labour is about to begin. However, IVMD's most recent filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that the company has recorded no revenues for the past nine months, has defaulted on a number of its loans and has more than $5.5m in net current liabilities with losses of $11.3m since inception.

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A GREAT Clifton man has been disqualified from acting as a company director for five years after admitting five charges related to the conduct of a business.

Dean Daniel Hudson, 41, also known as Dean Benson, of Abbot Wood, was also given a community order under which he will have to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £496.49 costs to the Department of Trade and Industry.

He admitted four charges that, being an officer of Miaguard National Security Limited, he knowingly and willfully authorised default to be made by the company in that it failed to keep accounting records which were sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions, contrary to the 1985 Companies Act.

He also pleaded guilty to failing, without reasonable excuse, to comply with an obligation imposed on him by the 1986 Insolvency Act by not giving information about the company that was reasonably required.

The offences were committed between 2001 and 2005.

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Popular IVA community website, IVA.co.uk, threatened with court action from IVA providers over slanderous comments posted on the website by disgruntled debtors
Kevin Reed, Accountancy Age, 14 Jun 2007
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Entering into insolvency, be it business or personal, is an emotional process. Therefore outbursts aimed at creditors or poor old insolvency practitioners accused of not getting a good deal are commonplace.

A popular website for the IVA community, IVA.co.uk, has admitted it has been threatened with court action from IVA providers over what they saw as slanderous comments posted on the website by disgruntled debtors.

IVA.co.uk admitted that it has moderated comments such as 'she-devil' and 'dogs-breath' aimed at insolvency practitioners and had dealt with comments that implied quality of some IVA providers’ service and regulated standards were not being met.

The website’s problems follow recent tales of internet-based abusive comments around the insolvency arena.

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John C. Coffee, a Professor of Law at Columbia Law School has speculated that a U.S. global class action trial arising from the Royal Dutch Shell oil and gas reserves fraud in 2004, could put Shell in danger of insolvency.

The story is here.

In April 2007, Shell announced it would pay around $400 million, including legal costs, to settle a non-US investor lawsuit arising from a series of reserves restatements in 2004 that slashed its hydrocarbon reserves by almost a third. Shell’s shares fell by about 10 per cent after the scandal broke in 2004, but recovered as a result of high oil prices.

Shell had already paid $150 million in fines imposed by the financial regulatory authorities – the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the UK Financial Services Authority - for securities fraud which involved “fooling the market”. The fraud led to the resignation of Shell’s three top executives including Group Chairman, Sir Philip Watts and the transformation of the Anglo-Dutch 100 year old two company structure into a Dutch owned company registered in the UK, but with its HQ in The Netherlands.

Shell has already settled class action claims brought by other parties, including a Shell employee’s retirement fund. Shell has also asked the SEC to distribute to Shell shareholders the $120m paid by the company as a “civil penalty settlement”.

The main consolidated class action was brought in the U.S. Federal courts. This was subsequently expanded into a historic global class action. The trial commences next week when lawyers for Shell will try to persuade U.S. District Chief Judge John Bissell to allow the $400 million settlement proposed by Shell to proceed. Shell has said that it intends to offer the same proportional settlement – around $80m, to U.S. investors.

New York law firm, Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz LLP, acting for the lead plaintiffs, Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System & Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System, and Mr Peter Wood, who is representing non-U.S. qualified Shell stockholders, will ask the Judge to reject the settlement proposed by Shell and allow the global class action to proceed.

It is this eventually which could result in the potential massive settlement that Professor Coffee has indicated could put Shell at risk of insolvency.

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The Rugby Football League have deducted points from two National League clubs which recently hit financial difficulties.

Doncaster Lakers, from National League One, and League Two outfit Swinton Lions, are the first clubs to fall foul of the League's clampdown and have both been docked six points after entering into a Company Voluntary Arrangement.

In a statement, the RFL said: "Following a board meeting, the RFL have announced that Doncaster Lakers and Swinton Lions have each been deducted six points for a breach of the RFL's insolvency rules, with immediate effect."

The deduction means Doncaster, who are hoping for new backers to save them from extinction, are now bottom of League One with just three points, three behind Sheffield Eagles.

Swinton, who are confident they have overcome their financial problems, drop from eighth to 10th in League Two and are virtually ruled out of the promotion race.

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