The professional dissertation on hand deals with matters concerning both substantive and procedural law, i.e. the
extensive changes in the legal position of a creditor causend by his debtors bankruptcy. Starting point is the
perception of bankruptcy as the "moment of truth" of civil law because it makes substantive legal positions
exceptionally clear. Thus is it demonstrated that the opening of bankruptcy proceedings does not only particularly
change the way of enforcement but also the substantive content of the creditors position. This papers main
objective is to obtain coherent solutions to various problems (that have so far been unsatisfyingly solved or not
solved at all) concerning both individual and collective debt-collection by analysing basic structural elements of
private law (esp. "dept" and "claim").
Vitally important is the analysis of "liability" as a legal phenomenon. In spite of the enormous practical
importance, its dogmatic foundation had only been searched out insufficiently. The results presented in this paper
are useful for the solution of various problems in connection with individual debt-collection (action and execution)
and collective debt-collection (participation in bankruptcy proceedings).
The papers approach - which is based on "liability" - proves to be very useful with regard to the following
(controversially discussed or still unsolved) matters:
the legal nature of the so-called "Haftungsklage" (liability suit)
the legitimacy of the assertion of "Konkursforderungen" (claims originating before the opening of bankruptcy
proceedings) both inside and outside of bankruptcy proceedings
the legitimacy and the consequences of an abandonment of participation in bankruptcy proceedings
the (potentially final) conversion of claims due to the debtors bankruptcy ( 14 and 15 KO)
the subejct of the so-called "Feststellungsverfahren" during bankruptcy proceedings and of the "Prüfungsprozess"
and finally
the adjustment of an incorrect distribution by the receiverrustee in bankruptcy
Furthermore, superior matters of insolvency law are elaborated, e.g. the origin and the consequences of the
principle of equal treatment of creditors in bankruptcy and the legal nature of the debtors assets belonging tot the
estate.