This book deals with a detailed statement of the law on applications to wind up companies in England and Wales in specific and other territories in general. This fourth edition is intended to the procedure for obtaining a winding-up order chronologically from presentation of a petition to making the order. It looks at the application processes which are applied to various classes of petitioners, such as creditors, contributories (shareholders) and public officials. This edition is completely updated to cover new legislation and procedures. It includes new coverage of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016, which rewrote the procedural rules for applications to wind up companies. The book also covers Regulation (EU) 2015/848 on insolvency proceedings (recast) concerning amended rules applying to jurisdiction, as well as the special measures then in force to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Though focused on the procedure in the courts of England and Wales, the work also considers the jurisprudence of the many Commonwealth jurisdictions which have adopted the English procedure. This work contains all there is to know about applying (petitioning) to have companies and similar entities wound up by the court, making it essential for all lawyers who make, or defend, such applications. It states the special measures to deal with the coronavirus pandemic as those measures will appear as necessary in near future.