Any policy aimed at resolution of a banking crisis determines which constituents - depositors, creditors, shareholders, the banking industry, and society as a whole - eventually bear the costs associated with a banking crisis, thus giving rise to legitimacy and accountability concerns. Rather than what the recent financial crisis has engendered - mostly ad hoc reactions that socialize losses but not profits - what is required, this incisive analysis shows, is an equitable and viable resolution framework, based on burden sharing, enshrined in law, and designed to deal with bank failures in a way that balances private and public interests.