The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978: The Full- Employment-for-Lawyers Bill

The purpose of Chapter 13 may be speculated on ad infinitum. Perhaps courts have supplied its policy by imposing a good faith obligation, which supposedly is consistent with congressional intent; perhaps they have not. The point is that the nominal payment plan problem is the result of Congress' oversight and failure to articulate clearly the purpose of the new Act. To return to the beginning point of this series, the subjects delegated by Congress to the experts were business bankruptcy, and particularly business reorganization.

Meanwhile, Congress devoted its attention and energies to issues of court structure and consumer discharge. Chapter 13 is the expected consequence of that legislative process. With its expression more terse and economic than the other three major divisions of the new Act, Chapter 13 appears to be the stepchild of bankruptcy reform.