The Statute of Bankrupts or Bankruptcy Act 1542 (34 & 35 Hen. 8. c. 4), was an act passed by the Parliament of England in 1542. It was the first statute under English law dealing with bankruptcy or insolvency. It was repealed by section 1 of the Bankruptcy Act 1825 (6 Geo. 4. c. 16). The act contained an extremely long preamble which denounced debtors acting in fraud of their creditors, directed that the bodies of the offenders and all of their assets be taken by the requisite authorities and the assets be sold to pay their creditors "a portion, rate and rate alike, according to the quantity of their debts". Thereby the first bankruptcy statute also imported into English law for the first time the pari passu principle of distribution on insolvency. These principles would later be heavily underscored by the House of Lords in the cases of National Westminster Bank Ltd v Halesowen Presswork & Assemblies Ltd [1972] AC 785 and British Eagle International Airlines Ltd v Compagnie Nationale Air France [1975] 1 WLR 758.

Preamble

The Preamble to the 1542 act is as follows: