“The first Bankrupt Bill in the World”: George Joseph Bell and the Glasgow Connection, 1804-1809

This article explores an important episode in the life of George Joseph Bell prior to his becoming Professor of Scots law at the University of Edinburgh. It relies on new evidence reflecting Bell’s involvement with Glasgow’s Chamber of Commerce. The bankruptcy Bill, which Bell drafted, was frustrated due to lack of government will to promote it, but it had the approbation of leading figures in Scotland and England and reflects Bell’s engagement, while in private practice at the bar, in the comparative jurisprudence of bankruptcy north and south of the border.