ALLE ORIGINI DELL'INDUSTRIALIZZAZIONE MILANESE: IL FALLIMENTO DELLE 'NUOVE' SOCIETÀ (1883-1903)

The aim of this thesis is to give a contribution to the research on Bankruptcy Law between 1883 and 1903, a period marked by two important legal reforms: the Italian Commercial Code and the law of composition with creditors. In particular, the paper explores companies default (that is, limited liability companies and cooperative societies) declared by the Court of Milan in this period. The choice to focus on these specific bankrupts is due to the growing economic importance that the Milanese area took at the end of nineteenth century, becoming one of the main economic districts. The reconstruction of bankruptcy events is made by means of an analysis of both legal historiography and magazines, as well as of archive groups of Archivio di Stato di Milano and of Archivio Storico della Camera di Commercio di Milano. The companies default is observed from a legal and historical point of view in order to understand the evolution of the Italian Corporate Insolvency Law in the twentieth century.