It could be said that today the issue of the bankruptcy proceedings and bankruptcy law legislation has become once again actual, both in transitional states as in states with traditionally developed market. Bankruptcy law legislation has been analysed within the history of law, financial management, but also within wider social impacts. On one hand bankruptcy law act can be observed as a perfect Weberian institute. It incorporates par excellence capitalistic rule: creation of the collective mechanism that would give the bankruptcy law creditors the opportunity to recognise and choose the best option for the return of the amount that is owed to them. On the other hand, bankruptcy proceeding surely has an interesting historical trail, starting from antique and medieval ages. Later, from XVIII to the end of the XIX century it has become the object of the intensive public debate that has been linked to the instability of the social institutions and the inefficiency of bankruptcy law proceedings (the procedures take to long, low level of the creditors settlement and high costs of the procedure). Bankruptcy proceeding is therefore an excellent example of economical rationalization, that has been followed by an interesting legal and bureaucratic development. However, what remains constant throughout history is the fact that bankruptcy reflects a fragile, often unstable interaction of legal rules and individual interests, legality of the market and general (public) interest. Due to the extent of the issue, in this piece it has been possible to analyse only certain problems and give the overview of certain questions about the bankruptcy proceeding development. What the authors would like to highlight is that, even in a review like this one there is a need to analyse the bankruptcy proceeding through the prism of history.