and to comply with their request, and it is recommended that the interdiction for insolvency be publicly announced.

Section

The interdiction yields four legal consequences:

1. The creditors’ right1 becomes attached to the debtor’s estate, so he may not dispose of it in any way, even by emancipating a slave. Transactions that merely impose a personal liability on him—such as a purchase or an acknowledgment—are valid, but their enforcement is deferred until the interdiction is lifted.

2. Whoever locates the very article he had sold to, or2 loaned the insolvent, has the better claim to it, provided that he was unaware of the interdiction, that the insolvent is still alive, that the entire consideration for the article remains outstanding, that the article is still wholly owned by the insolvent, that it is intact and its description has not changed so as to alter its name, that it has not undergone any inseparable increase, has not been mixed with indistinguishable property, and that no third-party right is attached to it. If any of these conditions is lacking, reclamation is barred.

3. The judge must apportion the debtor’s assets that are of the same kind as the liabilities and sell what is not of that kind, then divide the proceeds among the creditors in proportion to their claims. The creditors are not required to prove that no others are owed. Should a new creditor3 whose debt is already due appear, he may recover his share from each creditor proportionately. The debtor must be left with what he needs for a dwelling, a servant, trading capital, and4 the tools of his craft; moreover, he and his dependents are entitled to the minimum maintenance customary for their peers in food, drink, and clothing.