The Adjudication of Proofs of Debt in Liquidation: On Power and History

The High Court has held that when adjudicating proofs of debt, a liquidator acts quasi -judicially "according to the standards no less than the standards of a court or judge". The first article in this series considered the potential impact and misconceptions that follow from this characterisation of a liquidator's function, including whether it suggests the liquidator's power is in fact a judicial power. The second article in this series examines the effect of a liquidator's adjudication on a creditor's rights, and whether such an adjudication might be immune from collateral attack by creditors and others in proceedings before a court. It then turns to the history of the procedure and the course by which it originated as a function of a court and was later referred to the liquidator. The last article in this series will consider the limitations on the powers and obligations of liquidators.