That's The Spirit

Insolvency law in the Isle of Man has failed to be reformed on different occasions in the last twenty years in spite of Government initiatives. Increasingly, judges of the High Court have weighed-in to criticise this state of affairs, where reference still has to be made to the Bankruptcy Code 1892 (the Code) to determine not only the laws of individual bankruptcy, but also the insolvency laws applicable to companies and all other commercial entities.

For the large part, notwithstanding the antiquated state of the law, the Code still delivers substantively on most issues arising for the practitioner. There are inconveniences, the (English) common law, which in the UK has been displaced by the Insolvency Act 1986 and its rules, continues to be the prime source for guidance in the Isle of Man. As Professor Fletcher said in the context of cross-border insolvency, "the law is in a state of arrested development". Necessarily, there are gaps or inconsistencies in Manx