The origins and development of the office of registrar in bankruptcy of the High Court

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/iir.1355
• Date: 01 December 2019
• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Author: Stephen Baister,John Tribe

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The origins and development of the office of

registrar in bankruptcy of the High Court

Stephen Baister

1

| John Tribe

2

1

Chartered Institute of Credit Management,

High Court of Justice, London, UK

2

School of Law and Social Justice,

University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

Correspondence

Stephen Baister, Moon Beever, Bedford

House, John Street, London WC1N 2BF,

UK.

Email: sbaister@moonbeever.com

Abstract

This article examines the history of the office of Bank-

ruptcy Registrar of the High Court of England and

Wales. It is argued that the power of the registrars to

act judicially grew from their authorisation to act pur-

suant to delegated powers introduced in 1869 and that

this began a major shift in their role from being largely

administrative to their current status as fully fledged

(and renamed) insolvency and companies court judges.

The fluidity of bankruptcy offices in the nineteenth cen-

tury is also examined, demonstrating that certain bank-

ruptcy officer-holders moved freely between functions

in the course of the development in the office of regis-

trar from what might be called its administrative phase

to the judicial phase with the eventual creation of a

Bankruptcy Court and more recently the creation of a

specialist insolvency and companies list in the new

Business and Property Courts. Finally, it is argued that

a factor in the foregoing developments and the increas-

ing reputation of the bankruptcy registrars was the

extension of their jurisdiction from pure bankruptcy

work to include company insolvency, directors' disquali-

fication cases and non-insolvency company work, a sig-

nificant increase in their trial work and their acquisition

of an appellate jurisdiction.

DOI: 10.1002/iir.1355

© 2019 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Int Insolv Rev. 2019;

28:392–417.

392 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/iir

1|INTRODUCTION

The judicial office of registrar in bankruptcy of the High Court has recently undergone a

rebranding exercise. In 2018, the title of “registrar”was abolished and replaced, with effect from

26 February, by a new title, “Insolvency and Companies Court Judge”(ICCJ). This change war-

rants some exposition of the origins, history, and development of the office.

1

This article is

divided into six sections following the introduction, and a conclusion follows. Section 2 exam-

ines the quasi-judicial role of the commissioners in bankruptcy and other officers concerned in

the administration of the Lord Chancellor's bankruptcy jurisdiction from its inception in 1542 up

to the introduction of bankruptcy registrars in 1821. Whilst the role was the subject of criticism

as being a sinecure obtained through political patronage, it is shown that the commissioners in

bankruptcy shared some qualities with the modern trustee in bankruptcy as well as modern

bankruptcy registrars.

Section 3 examines the introduction of the first bankruptcy registrars in 1821, in part as a

forerunner to the creation of the new 1831 Bankruptcy Court. The largely administrative func-

tion of bankruptcy registrars during this period is examined in what is referred to as the “admin-

istrative”phase of their development. Section 4 then examines further developments in the

office of the bankruptcy registrars from 1831 until the reforms of the late nineteenth century.

The eventual demise of the commissioners in bankruptcy and the creation of the Bankruptcy

Court in 1831 both affected the nature of the registrars' role in what was an increasingly fluid

bankruptcy administration. Whilst still in the administrative phase of their development, it is dur-

ing this period that the first signs of judicial activity by bankruptcy registrars are seen. These

reach their culmination with the 1883 statutory provisions giving judicial functions to the bank-

ruptcy registrars. This is referred to as the “judicial”phase of the bankruptcy registrars'

development.

Section 5 examines the role of the bankruptcy registrars in the winding-up jurisdiction, in

addition to their bankruptcy work more broadly. Section 6 examines the role of the bankruptcy

registrars in the twentieth century and shows how their work became established as judicial in

nature in both bankruptcy and company work and how their judgments came to reflect those of

their judicial colleagues, before and after the move of the bankruptcy jurisdiction to the Chan-

cery Division in 1921. The 1980s statutory reforms to insolvency and directors' disqualification

emanating from the Cork Report are examined in this part. It is argued that the reforms dramati-

cally increased the registrars' workload and jurisdiction, particularly in relation to directors' dis-

qualification and the transfer from the High Court judge of the winding up list to the

bankruptcy registrars.

Finally, Section 7 examines recent developments, including the controversial Rolls Building move

and the steady reassertion of the reputation of the bankruptcy registrars and their court as a centre of

domestic and international excellence. The conclusion argues that the role of bankruptcy registrar,

now insolvency and companies court judge, has developed, from its early nineteenth century intro-

duction as an administrative officeholder, into a fully-fledged judicial role with an international repu-

tation for excellence.

1

Whilst occasional reference is made to registrars outside London, this article concentrates on the role of the bankruptcy

registrars of the High Court who most recently have operated from the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand and latterly the

Business & Property Courts in the Rolls Building.

BAISTER AND TRIBE 393