Konkurs och process

Sammanfattning: Civil actions are a regular occurrence during the course of bankruptcy proceedings and may have wide-ranging and significant social impacts, not least due to the fact that they can pertain to assets of considerable value or affect a large number of individuals and various types of economic interests. These lawsuits also raise a number of legal issues regarding the delimitation of procedural rights of various bankruptcy actors, such as the bankruptcy trustee, the bankruptcy debtor and individual creditors.The mentioned competence issues are complex and have over the years generated relatively extensive case law. Additionally, they are of great importance in a bankruptcy, as they have a major impact on the outcome of bankruptcy proceedings and on the furthering of the efficacy of the policies underlying bankruptcy law.This thesis aims at systematizing and evaluating the rules regarding the bankruptcy actors' competence in civil proceedings to directly or indirectly dispose of assets and liabilities that are subject to a process by way of litigation. It is further intended to investigate how these rules affect the impact of the policy aims behind the substantive competence rules of bankruptcy law and the main purpose of the bankruptcy, and whether the regulation constitutes acceptable coordination between substantive bankruptcy law and procedural law.The investigation covers a very large number of legal issues at the intersection of substantive bankruptcy law and general procedural rules governing civil proceedings, for example: Who may be a party or intervener in actions regarding assets or debts in the bankruptcy? What are the legal implications of the estate substituting the debtor as a party to an action? What prospects does a bankruptcy estate have to avoid being drawn into the bankruptcy debtor's actions? To what extent are judgments in the debtor’s actions binding in bankruptcy proceedings?The inquiry shows that the relationship between the substantive and procedural rights of the individual bankruptcy actors is complex. In a number of situations, individual bankruptcy actors have a more wide-ranging procedural right of disposal regarding assets or liabilities than a substantive one. This gives rise to a risk that these rights will be used in ways that limit the impact for the policy aims of bankruptcy law, for example, by circumventing rules to protect third parties. However, it is argued that a more wide-ranging procedural right of disposal can, in certain instances, further the policies underlying bankruptcy law, provided that the relevant procedural rights are adequately set out. The thesis also discusses various solutions regarding the delimitation of the individual bankruptcy actors' procedural rights.