in the estate—whether the article is wholly intact or only partly so—may not lay hands on it; he is treated like the rest of the creditors, because the deceased’s personal liability has come to an end. Once the judge officially declares a man bankrupt, every deferred debt he owes becomes immediately payable, just as deferred debts fall due upon a debtor’s death. In Malik’s view, there is no difference between one who dies and one who is declared bankrupt: in both cases the debt matures. If a creditor discovers his own goods still present with a bankrupt but does not reclaim them until the debtor dies, he may still take them after the death—unless the other creditors choose to compensate him fairly for the claim he holds against the estate.