In late 2015, a new law went on the books in Russia that allowed individual citizens to file for bankruptcy. The law applied to all types of loans, from consumer and car loans to mortgages and borrowings in a foreign currency. Previously, in post-Soviet Russia, only legal entities such as companies and business partnerships could file for such protection. This change takes us back to the imperial era when private credit and personal bankruptcy were common.
Antonov’s fascinating new book sheds light on the little-studied subject of bankrupts and usurers in nineteenth-century Russia. It joins a recent revival of the legal and administrative history of Russia represented in works by Burbank about peasant legal practice, Pravilova about property law, and Kotsonis about taxation and citizenship.1 Like these other authors, Antonov builds his study on a strong foundation of social history and rests his arguments on detailed cases of actual...