Cessio Bonorum Law and Legal Definition
Cessio bonorum is a Latin term which means voluntary surrender of goods or estate. It involves the legal process of surrender of goods, estate or property by debtor to creditor. A creditor will acquire title over the property surrendered by debtor under cessio bonorum. A creditor can sell the property surrendered under cessio bonorum for satisfaction of his/her claims. In order to get discharged from debt under cessio bonorum, a property surrendered by debtor must be sufficient to satisfy the debt amount. The surrender of the property will discharge the debtor only for the value acquired from a property surrendered and a debtor will be responsible for the balance amount. Cessio bonorum protects a debtor from deprivation of bare essentials of life, infamy, arrest and imprisonment.
