Document Type
Article
Abstract
This article is the second of a series which proposes to deal with several aspects of bulk sales legislation. The first paper, entitled "Bulk Sales Laws; A Study in Economic Adjustment" appeared in the November, 1928 issue of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. That discussion considered three phases of the bulk sales problem: (1) the inability of the American statutory successors of 13 Elizabeth to meet the legal needs of the creditor class when a defrauding merchant sold out in bulk his stock of unpaid for goods to a bona fide purchaser for value;(2) the campaign waged by the National Association of Credit Men to place bulk sales laws on the statute books of the forty-eight states; (3) the unfavorable attitude of at least five state supreme courts toward bulk sales laws which resulted (a) in these statutes being declared unconstitutional in the states in question and (b) in certain changes being made in the unconstitutional statutes in order to meet the objections raised by the courts. This paper proposes to take up the story where the earlier one left off. It will consider, first, the reaction of certain outstanding credit men of the present generation to these statutes, some of which have been inforce in their respective states for more than thirty years, and, second, the reaction of the courts in interpreting and applying certain provisions of these statutes. In other words, just as the former article treated the past history of bulk sales laws, so this one will consider the present status of such laws from the viewpoint of both credit men and courts. Whatever personal reactions the authors may have toward these laws and the construction placed upon them, and whatever suggestions they may have in the direction of statutory changes will be reserved for a later paper. This later paper also will cover certain phases of statutory interpretation not considered herein.
Recommended Citation
Thomas C. Billig & Kingsley R. Smith,
Bulk Sales Laws: A Study in Statutory Interpretation,
38
W. Va. L. Rev.
(1932).
Available at:
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/wvlr/vol38/iss4/4