Fraudulent transfer law has a rich history. When English law put the idea in writing, they took it from Roman law. This old English law on fraudulent transfers is now well rooted in American law, and has recently been revisited through the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act. However, when English law borrowed from Roman law, there may have been a translation error that has been passed along for centuries. The word “fraud” that was derived from the Latin translation of the Roman law, was believed to mean misrepresentation, but now scholars believe the correct translation would be closure to the idea of disadvantage or prejudice.
See Jay Adkisson, The Uniform Voidable Transactions Act – What’s With the Name Change?, Forbes, July 18, 2014.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
