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If we hold that a creditor’s share in the proportional distribution in respect of goods is to be used to purchase goods of the same kind as those owed to him, prices may rise or fall, so that the amount purchases less than his allotted share because prices have risen, or more because they have fallen. No readjustment is then made between him and the other creditors, unless what he receives exceeds his entire entitlement, in which case he must return the surplus to the other creditors. Any accounting for this increase or decrease is solely between him and the debtor: he retains a claim against the debtor for whatever remains of his entitlement, whether that remainder is smaller because prices have fallen or larger because they have risen.

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The fifth topic concerns determining which debts qualify for inclusion in the proportional distribution and which do not. Proportional distribution is required only for established debts owed by the debtor, not for specifically identified goods. For if someone purchases a specifically identified item and the seller becomes insolvent, the purchaser has a stronger right to it than the creditors, by scholarly consensus.

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Established debts owed by a debtor fall into two categories:

First: those arising in return for consideration.

Second: those arising without consideration.

As for debts arising in return for consideration—whether or not that consideration has monetary value—the consideration must either have been received or not have been received. Where it has been received, as in the case of payment for goods already received, compensation for bodily injuries, maintenance owed to wives for past periods, and the dowries of wives