Bankruptcy Ordinance

(1)
Demands in the nature of unliquidated damages arising otherwise than by reason
                of a contract, tort, promise or breach of trust shall not be provable in
                    bankruptcy.
(Amended
76 of 1996 s. 25
)
(2)
Subject to
section 42(5)
, a person having notice of a petition in
                bankruptcy shall not prove in bankruptcy for any debt or liability contracted by the
                bankrupt after the date of his so having notice.
(Replaced
76 of 1996 s. 25
)
(3)
Save as aforesaid, all debts and liabilities, present or future, certain or
                contingent, to which the bankrupt is subject at the date of the bankruptcy order, or
                to which he may become subject before his discharge by reason of any obligation
                incurred before the date of the bankruptcy order, including a liability to pay
                further damages as provided for in
section 56A(2
)(
b)
of the High Court
                Ordinance (
Cap. 4
) (following an award of provisional
                damages), shall be deemed to be debts provable in bankruptcy.
(Amended
40 of 1986 s. 5
;
76 of 1996 ss. 72
& 73;
25 of 1998 s. 2
)
(3A)
Notwithstanding subsection (3), a debt owing to the Government in respect of a
                fine or monetary penalty imposed under an Ordinance shall not be provable in
                    bankruptcy.
(Added
76 of 1996 s. 25
)
(3B)
Where a debt provable in bankruptcy is payable in a currency other than Hong
                Kong dollars, the trustee or, in the case of a voluntary arrangement, the nominee or
                his replacement under
section 20K(3)
, shall convert the amount of the
                debt from the foreign currency into Hong Kong dollars at the midpoint between the
                selling and buying telegraphic transfer rates of exchange quoted by The Hong Kong
                Association of Banks on the day the bankruptcy order is made or, where no such rates
                are quoted, at an exchange rate determined by the court.
(Added
76 of 1996 s. 25
)
(3C)
The trustee may pay a dividend in respect of a foreign currency claim either in
                Hong Kong dollars or in the foreign currency equivalent of Hong Kong dollars, and in
                the latter case he shall determine the foreign currency equivalent using the same
                conversion method as in subsection (3B) but as of the day of the payment of the
                    dividend.
(Added
76 of 1996 s. 25
)
(4)
An estimate shall be made by the trustee of the value of any debt or liability
                provable as aforesaid which by reason of its being subject to any contingency or
                contingencies, or for any other reason, does not bear a certain value or,
                alternatively, the trustee may refer such debt or liability to the court for
                valuation in which case the court shall establish a value in accordance with
                subsection (7).
(Amended
76 of 1996 s. 25
)
(5)
Any person aggrieved by any estimate made by the trustee as aforesaid may
                appeal to the court.
(6)
(Repealed
76 of 1996 s. 25
)
(7)
Where the trustee has referred the question of valuation to it under subsection
                (4), the court may direct the value to be assessed before the court itself without
                the intervention of a jury and may give all necessary directions for this
                    purpose.
(Amended
76 of 1996 s. 25
)
(7A)
The trustee shall make a decision
to—
(a)
accept; or
(b)
reject in whole or in part,
a proof of debt
within—
(i)
a period, prescribed by the rules, after the proof is filed with him;
                    or
(ii)
such longer period as the court may on application allow,
but this subsection does not apply if there is no reasonable prospect of a
                dividend being paid to the class of creditor to which the proof of debt
                    relates.
(Added
76 of 1996 s. 25
)
(8)
For the purposes of this Ordinance,
liability
(
債務
)
includes—
(a)
any compensation for work or labour done;
(b)
any obligation or possibility of an obligation to pay money or money’s
                        worth on the breach of any express or implied covenant, contract, agreement
                        or undertaking, whether the breach does or does not occur, or is or is not
                        likely to occur or capable of occurring, before the discharge of the
                            bankrupt;
(Amended
76 of 1996 s. 72
)
(c)
generally, any express or implied engagement, agreement or undertaking
                        to pay or capable of resulting in the payment of money or money’s worth,
                        whether the payment is, as respects amount, fixed or unliquidated, as
                        respects time, present or future, certain or dependent on any one
                        contingency or on 2 or more contingencies, or, as to mode of valuation,
                        capable of being ascertained by fixed rules or as matter of
                        opinion.
[cf. 1914 c. 59 s. 30 U.K.]