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Array
(
    [entityType] => ITEM
    [entity] => Array
        (
            [contextId] => aims
            [description] => Array
                (
                    [0] => These Christchurch Supreme/High Court Bankruptcy Files documented the management of the estate of a person who could not pay his/her debts. The estate was managed for the benefit of creditors and debtors.
                )

            [id] => 3006
            [idSort] => 3006
            [name] => Christchurch Supreme/High Court Bankruptcy Files
            [custom] => Array
                (
                    [custom5] => A4 legal folded file. In 1995, the Court introduced A4 flat files.
                )

            [identifier] => Array
                (
                    [priref] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => 12167
                        )

                )

            [digitalRecordInArchive] => 
            [hasBeginningDate] => Array
                (
                    [normalizedValue] => 1863-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
                    [dateQualifier] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => approximate
                            [1] => yearOnly
                        )

                )

            [hasEndDate] => Array
                (
                    [normalizedValue] => 2003-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
                    [dateQualifier] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => exact
                            [1] => yearOnly
                        )

                )

            [hasOrHadCategory] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Files
                            [type] => SeriesFormat
                        )

                )

            [history] => 

	This series of bankruptcy files documented the process whereby the estate of a person who cannot pay his/her debts was managed for the benefit of creditors and debtor. The files contained documentation from the case including applications, reports, affidavits, statement of accounts and other associated legal paperwork.

	The Debtors and Creditors Act of 1863 was the first piece of legislation that provided a means of restitution for bankrupts; previously debtors had been punished by being sent to jail, but while incarcerated had no ability to service or pay their outstanding debts. When the Act came into force, creditors meetings were able to be called, and trustees that administered estates to the benefit of creditors were established.

	Until the mid 1880s, responsibility for managing bankrupt estates rested with creditors, trustees or the Court registrar of the Supreme or District Court (that is, the 19th century form of District Court). The Bankruptcy Act 1883 established government appointed Official Assignees, initially only in the four main centres. Thereafter there were two types of bankruptcy records; those created by the Supreme/High Court, and those created by the Official Assignee. For every Official Assignee file, there was a Supreme/High Court file with the same number. The matter was instigated in the Supreme/High Court with the filing of a petition (or declaration prior to 1884) and these file numbers are assigned from the Supreme/High Court registers. Cases not proceeded with, struck out or settled before bankruptcy was adjudged had a Supreme/High Court file but did not generate an Official Assignee file. A case might be filed in the Supreme/High Court Christchurch then assigned to a deputy Official Assignee according to the location of the bankrupt. These files are those created by the Supreme/High Court.

	In 2003, the series ended when the Courts moved to a new electronic system that registered and controlled all Court files using a single running number.
            [isAssociatedWithDate] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [type] => HoldingsYears
                            [hasBeginningDate] => Array
                                (
                                    [type] => YearStartHoldings
                                    [normalizedValue] => 1870-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
                                    [dateQualifier] => Array
                                        (
                                            [0] => exact
                                            [1] => yearOnly
                                        )

                                )

                            [hasEndDate] => Array
                                (
                                    [type] => YearEndHoldings
                                    [normalizedValue] => 1998-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
                                    [dateQualifier] => Array
                                        (
                                            [0] => exact
                                            [1] => yearOnly
                                        )

                                )

                        )

                )

            [isAssociatedWithPlace] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Christchurch repository
                        )

                )

            [itemType] => Series
            [rdfType] => recordSet
            [recordIsMissing] => 
            [ricClassificationDescription] => Early files were kept in running number order, with a new sequence of numbers beginning with each bankruptcy act. By the 1960s an annual single number classification system was being used.
            [seriesAccessContacts] => 

	Requests for access permission can be made to:

	The Registrar

	Christchurch High Court

	282 Durham Street, Christchurch

	DX: WX10021, Christchurch

	Email: christchurchhc@justice.govt.nz

	All requests for permission to access restricted records should provide information about the reason for the research. The more information provided, the easier it is to consider the request.

	 
            [seriesRestrictionReason] => 

	There is a 60 year restriction on bankruptcy files from the Supreme/High Court.
            [setSpec] => series
        )

)