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51 N. Ir. Legal Q. 509 (2000)
Insolvency Law: A Matter of Public Interest?

handle is hein.journals/nilq51 and id is 519 raw text is: INSOLVENCY LAW : A MATTER OF PUBLIC INTEREST?' Andrew Keay, Professor of Law and Head of Postgraduate and Professional Studies and Research, School of Legal Studies, University of Wolverhampton Undoubtedly, the concept of the public interest is an important element in many areas of law, such as human rights, media, copyright, civil and criminal litigation, environmental law and company law, just as it is in many areas of life.2 This is manifested by the significant amount of literature written in this regard.' However, do public interest issues exist as far as insolvency law is concerned? Insolvency is an area of law clearly categorised as private law and involving, inter alia, the rights of creditors against debtors. It is an area of the law, unlike consumer law, environmental law, employment law and human rights law, to name but some, which is not readily linked to the public interest. The focus of insolvency law is seen squarely to be on the rights of creditors against a particular debtor(s) and what those creditors will receive by way of payment (if anything). This article argues that the concept of the public interest has a role to play in insolvency law. Second, it discusses the meaning of the expression, public interest, and explains what public interest means in the context of insolvency law. Third, the article considers the arguments that have been put as to whether it is appropriate that the public interest has a role to play in insolvency law. Finally, the article, after arguing that the public interest has a role to play, considers the extent to which it should have a bearing on insolvency law matters. I. IS THE PUBLIC INTEREST A FACTOR IN INSOLVENCY LAW? Insolvency law is often seen as dealing with a very limited area. It is suggested that the prevailing view, in both the community at large and even amongst people who are versed in the law is that insolvency law is all about money4 and more specifically about creditors of a debtor not getting paid what they are legally owed. In other words, it is about a person or a company failing to meet financial commitments. This is undoubtedly an important and significant aspect of insolvency law, but this area of law is wider than that. Increasingly, the law has become more and more concerned with providing measures both for the reconstruction of insolvent companies, in order that 1I am indebted to the anonymous referee who made some helpful comments on an earlier version of the article. Any errors, of course, remain my responsibility. 2 For example, in the administration of government. 3 Probably most comment has emanated from the domain of political philosophy. A significant number of examples are set out later in the article. See K Gross, Failure andForgiveness : Rebalancing the Bankruptcy System (1997) at 23.

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