Receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in the English Chancery courts, where receivers were appointed to protect real property.
Receiverships are also a remedy of last resort in litigation involving the conduct of executive agencies that fail to comply with constitutional or statutory obligations to populations that rely on those agencies for their basic human rights.
Various types of receiver appointments exist:
- a receiver appointed by a (government) regulator pursuant to a statute;
- a privately appointed receiver;
- a court-appointed receiver.
The receiver's powers "flow from the document(s) underlying his appointment – a statute, financing agreement, or court order.
