In the context of economic crisis and widespread household over-indebtedness, this paper examines the varying rate and extent of evolution of consumer insolvency laws in a selection of European countries, in order to identify the factors that influence the degree to which the law can respond to the conditions of the modern consumer credit society. I begin by examining the key features of the selected laws, including the newly enacted Irish Personal Insolvency Act 2012. I consider potential explanations for differences in national laws advanced by commentators and policymakers, in order to examine whether national legal traditions, relevant institutional structures, and cultural attitudes can determine the shape of a country’s personal insolvency law. I illustrate how empirical evidence provides little support for the idea that consumer insolvency laws are the product of such inherently national factors. Subsequently, I show how political science concepts such as political ideology, policy salience, and interest group influence appear to explain more effectively the development of these laws. Noting the politically controversial and complex nature of household debt issues, I conclude by suggesting that universal political forces, rather than inherently national factors, represent greater obstacles to reforming personal insolvency law to meet the needs of the modern consumer credit society.

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This paper explores comparative consumer bankruptcy law by considering the vividly contrasting bankruptcy laws of Ireland and England and Wales. I search for answers to the puzzling question of why the laws of two neighbouring jurisdictions sharing many similar characteristics should diverge so sharply both in their underlying ideologies and substantive rules. Building on existing comparative literature in the field of consumer bankruptcy law, the paper considers possible explanations based on national social welfare systems, consumer credit regulatory approaches and prevailing cultural attitudes towards credit. Finding that the relevant data suggests these factors do not provide explanations for the great differences between the two bankruptcy regimes, I therefore conclude that further emphasis must be placed on the politics of bankruptcy reform, and in particular on the role of interest groups, globalisation and increasing levels of personal over-indebtedness in generating the political pressure to drive national consumer bankruptcy reform. Thus I examine the lack of political interest in Irish bankruptcy law and the marginalisation of the issue of over-indebtedness in the last two decades; and contrast this with the new political appetite for law reform that developed as over-indebtedness was finally recognised as a mainstream concern in the aftermath of the financial crisis of the late 2000s. If, as a comparison of Irish and English law suggests, the roles of national cultural and social attitudes and economic policies have been somewhat over-stated in previous academic debate, further convergence of national personal insolvency laws may be more possible than is often thought. I conclude by identifying early trends in this direction, including recently published proposals for reform that would bring Ireland’s system in line with those of comparable jurisdictions.