Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable

The Bankruptcy Roundtable

Promoting the dissemination of academic and practitioner views of current bankruptcy issues

The Erie Doctrine, Code Common Law, and Choice-of-Law Rules in Bankruptcy
by Editor
May 5, 2026
By Ralph Brubaker (University of Illinois College of Law) State law pervades bankruptcy litigation, as all parties’ relative rights in bankruptcy are governed by nonbankruptcy law, except to the extent modified by federal bankruptcy law itself. Indeed, that result is constitutionally compelled with respect to parties’ substantive state-law rights and obligations, under the holding of Erie R.R. v. Tompkins. How… Read more: The Erie Doctrine, Code Common Law, and Choice-of-Law Rules in Bankruptcy

Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable
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