Hong Kong Ordinances

BANKRUPTCY ORDINANCE - SECT 34

Description of debts provable in bankruptcy

(Past version on 01/07/1997).
(Past version on 30/06/1997).

Adaptation amendments retroactively made - see 25 of 1998 s. 2 PART III

ADMINISTRATION OF PROPERTY

Proof of debts

(1) Demands in the nature of unliquidated damages arising otherwise than by
reason of a contract, tort, promise or breach of trust shall not be provable
in bankruptcy. (Amended 76 of 1996 s. 25)

(2) Subject to section 42(5), a person having notice of a petition in
bankruptcy shall not prove in bankruptcy for any debt or liability contracted
by the bankrupt after the date of his so having notice. (Replaced 76 of 1996
s. 25)

(3) Save as aforesaid, all debts and liabilities, present or future, certain
or contingent, to which the bankrupt is subject at the date of the bankruptcy
order, or to which he may become subject before his discharge by reason of any
obligation incurred before the date of the bankruptcy order, including a
liability to pay further damages as provided for in section 56A(2)(b) of the
High Court Ordinance ( Cap 4) (following an award of provisional damages),
shall be deemed to be debts provable in bankruptcy. (Amended 40 of 1986 s. 5;
76 of 1996 ss. 72 and 73; 25 of 1998 s. 2)

(3A) Notwithstanding subsection (3), a debt owing to the Government in respect
of a fine or monetary penalty imposed under an Ordinance shall not be provable
in bankruptcy. (Added 76 of 1996 s. 25)

(3B) Where a debt provable in bankruptcy is payable in a currency other than
Hong Kong dollars, the trustee or, in the case of a voluntary  arrangement,
the nominee or his replacement under section 20K(3), shall convert the amount
of the debt from the foreign currency into Hong Kong dollars at the midpoint
between the selling and buying telegraphic transfer rates of exchange quoted
by The Hong Kong Association of Banks on the day the bankruptcy order is made
or, where no such rates are quoted, at an exchange rate determined by the
court. (Added 76 of 1996 s. 25)

(3C) The trustee may pay a dividend in respect of a foreign currency claim
either in Hong Kong dollars or in the foreign currency equivalent of Hong Kong
dollars, and in the latter case he shall determine the foreign currency
equivalent using the same conversion method as in subsection (3B) but as of
the day of the payment of the dividend. (Added 76 of 1996 s. 25)

(4) An estimate shall be made by the trustee of the value of any debt or
liability provable as aforesaid which by reason of its being subject to any
contingency or contingencies, or for any other reason, does not bear a certain
value or, alternatively, the trustee may refer such debt or liability to the
court for valuation in which case the court shall establish a value in
accordance with subsection (7). (Amended 76 of 1996 s. 25)

(5) Any person aggrieved by any estimate made by the trustee as aforesaid may
appeal to the court.

(6) (Repealed 76 of 1996 s. 25)

(7) Where the trustee has referred the question of valuation to it under
subsection (4), the court may direct the value to be assessed before the court
itself without the intervention of a jury and may give all necessary
directions for this purpose. (Amended 76 of 1996 s. 25)

(7A) The trustee shall make a decision to-

   (a)  accept; or

   (b)  reject in whole or in part, a proof of debt within-

        (i)    a period, prescribed by the rules, after the proof is filed
               with him; or

        (ii)   such longer period as the court may on application allow, but
               this subsection does not apply if there is no reasonable
               prospect of a dividend being paid to the class of creditor to
               which the proof of debt relates. (Added 76 of 1996 s. 25)

(8) For the purposes of this Ordinance, "liability" (債務) includes-

   (a)  any compensation for work or labour done;

   (b)  any obligation or possibility of an obligation to pay money or money's
        worth on the breach of any express or implied covenant, contract,
        agreement or undertaking, whether the breach does or does not occur,
        or is or is not likely to occur or capable of occurring, before the
        discharge of the bankrupt; (Amended 76 of 1996 s. 72)

   (c)  generally, any express or implied engagement, agreement or undertaking
        to pay or capable of resulting in the payment of money or money's
        worth, whether the payment is, as respects amount, fixed or
        unliquidated, as respects time, present or future, certain or
        dependent on any one contingency or on 2 or more contingencies, or, as
        to mode of valuation, capable of being ascertained by fixed rules or
        as matter of opinion. [cf. 1914 c. 59 s. 30 U.K.]

"liability" (債務)