Les faillites boutiquières sous l'Ancien Régime. Une gestion de l'échec mi-juridique mi-pragmatique (fin XVIIe - fin XVIIIe siècle)

In the 18th C. France, money is difficult to collect in the absence of credit institutions and specialized financial market. Hence, most exchanges are based on credit. Shopkeepers are the main actors, because they both offer and require credit. Credit favours exchanges but also fosters the risk of bankruptcy. Bankruptcies do not necessary signify inaptitude, mediocrity, drama or definitive fall. Misfortune rather expresses the difficulty to avoid the credit net, which command is the key of success. Throughout the study of bankruptcies, we chose to emphasize two points in orde to show the intertwining between social, judicial and accounting practices, so characteristic of the ?Ancien Regime?: firstly, bankruptcy law, which shows how shopkeepers keep amongst themselves; secondly, bankruptcy accounting, a technical and legal instrument at its beginnings.