Re Sefel Geophysical Ltd.: A Canadian Approach to Some Specific Problems in the Adjudication of International Insolvencies

The collapse of a corporation which carries on business and trade on an international scale, usually spawns an array of legal disputes and presents some unique problems in the conflict of laws.1 Unlike a private commercial contractual dispute in which the competing interests are primarily, although rarely solely, defined by the parties themselves, bankruptcy law is infused with an element of public policy. The fact that bankruptcy legislation sets out a scheme of priorities and explicitly provides the basis upon which a court may assume jurisdiciton to declare a bankruptcy and appoint a trustee, is in itself an indication of the public nature of bankruptcy law. In some jurisdictions there may even be serious penal and social consequences attached to a bankruptcy.