i-law

Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly

Will the Law Commission sink the floating charge?

Louise Gullifer *

The Law Commission has put together a coherent and attractive scheme for the reform of the law relating to security over personal property. This paper looks at the place of the floating charge within the scheme, and seeks to illustrate some of the conceptual dilemmas posed, as well as some of the problems thrown up by the staged enactment of the scheme. It appears to be envisaged that under the first layer of the scheme, a system of notice filing for the registration of company charges, the floating charge would remain but in altered form. Many of the current problems surrounding the floating charge would disappear, although some uncertainties would remain. The ultimate fate of the floating charge under a restatement of the law of security is much less certain. The options available under such a restatement are examined, and the problems with abolishing the floating charge are discussed.
There are various layers to the Law Commission’s scheme for reform of the law relating to security over personal property:1 the inner layer could be enacted on its own, with different outer layers added on later, though it would clearly be advantageous for the entire scheme to become law at the same time. The various layers are as follows:
  • 1. A system of notice filing for the registration of company charges.
  • 2. Extension of that system to all transactions which have the function of security.
  • 3. Extension of the entire system to security created by unincorporated businesses and individuals.
  • 4. A restatement of the law of security, which would apply to all transactions falling within 1, 2 and 3.

The rest of this document is only available to i-law.com online subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, click Log In button.

Copyright © 2024 Maritime Insights & Intelligence Limited. Maritime Insights & Intelligence Limited is registered in England and Wales with company number 13831625 and address 5th Floor, 10 St Bride Street, London, EC4A 4AD, United Kingdom. Lloyd's List Intelligence is a trading name of Maritime Insights & Intelligence Limited.

Lloyd's is the registered trademark of the Society Incorporated by the Lloyd's Act 1871 by the name of Lloyd's.