破產的制度隨著社會經濟的轉變，同時展現出不同的風貌型態。由最早期的清算型破產，演變為加入預防破產型的破產和解程序，並在認知破產和解程序若干限制與不足之時，發展出適用於公司債務整理的重整制度。再者，個人因為所接觸信用消費型態的擴張改變，亦連帶的使其財務組合變化更形多樣。有鑑於此，美日等先進國家為了使消費型債務的債務人除了破產途徑外，能有另一能夠事先預防性的嶄新債務整理程序，因而制定了破產體制中屬於個人的全新重整制度。 此時適逢我國現行破產法施行多年後將要進行的巨大幅度修改，這正好給予我們審視現行破產法與當今經濟社會間的適用性與差距性的機會。有關此次破產法修正草案的內容方向，本文高度讚賞。但對於修正草案中未提及個人重整制度此二十一世紀破產法學中的最重要課題之一，實屬可惜。 因此，本文想藉由探討目前個人重整制度已為先進的美國聯邦破產法典中的第十三章為起始，進而配合近年日本因為個人消費經濟社會極劇轉變衝擊下，所發展出的民事再生法中有關個人重整再生等全新設計的制度做一深入的綜合討論。最後則以我國目前發展的現況為背景，進行總體評價論述，期待本文將來可作為我國未來嶄新破產法典中有關全新個人重整制度設計的有貢獻參考。

The bankruptcy system has evolved over the years with the social and economical developments and changes. It moved from early liquidation process to the preventive composition. And then, recognizing the limitation of the composition, the corporate reorganization system was introduced to deal with corporate debts. Furthermore, the expansion of consumer behavior has changed the financial portfolio for the individuals. In the advanced countries, a new individual rehabilitation system was designed to provide the consumer debtors with an alternative to bankruptcy. The bankruptcy law in our country is undergoing major modifications. This is a chance to review the pertinence of our bankruptcy law in the present society. The direction of the modification and the efforts put into it is highly commendable. However, the individual rehabilitation system is not included in the draft. It is the hope of this article to discuss the individual rehabilitation system in American Bankruptcy Code as well as the Japanese Civil Rehabilitation Law, and to discuss and compare the related subject in our country. Perhaps this, I hope, will serve as a suggestion and reference to the future design of our bankruptcy law.