Section 36: Description of debts

36. Description of debts (1) Demands in the nature of unliquidated damages arising otherwise than by reason of a contract, promise, or breach of trust shall not be provable in bankruptcy. (2) A person having notice of any act of bankruptcy available against the debtor shall not prove under the order for any debt or liability contracted by the debtor subsequently to the date of his so having notice. (3) Subject to subsections (1) and (2), all debts and liabilities, present or future, certain or contingent, to which the debtor is subject at the date of the receiving order, or to which he may become subject before his discharge by reason of any obligation incurred before the date of the receiving order, shall be deemed to be provable debts. (4) An estimate shall be made by the Official Receiver of the value of any provable debt or liability, which by reason of its being subject to any contingency, or for any other reason does not bear a certain value. (5) Any person aggrieved by an estimate made under subsection (4) may appeal to the Court. (6) Where, in the opinion of the Court, the value of the debt or liability is incapable of being fairly estimated, the Court may make an order to that effect, and thereupon the debt or liability shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed not to be a provable debt. [Issue 1] B4 – 20 Revised Laws of Mauritius (7) Where, in the opinion of the Court, the value of the debt or liability is capable of being fairly estimated, the Court may direct the value to be assessed before the Court itself, and may give all necessary directions for this purpose, and the amount of the value when assessed shall be deemed to be a provable debt. (8) In this Act, “liability” includes any compensation for work or labour done, 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 debtor, and 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— (a) as to amount, fixed or unliquidated; (b) as to time present or future, certain or dependent on any one contingency or on 2 or more contingencies; and (c) as to mode of valuation, capable of being ascertained by fixed rules or as a matter of opinion.