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For Americans convicted of crimes, collateral consequences impose barriers extending long past the completion of official sentences. The present study develops a novel distinction between congruent and incongruent collateral consequences. Congruent consequence laws impose barriers that are closely linked to their triggering offenses, while incongruent measures impose barriers that are only loosely connected to triggering offenses—or are disconnected entirely. Focusing specifically on the impactful consequence of restricting legal driving privileges, this article examines how the determinants of these policies vary according to the degree of congruity between triggering offense and collateral consequence. Using novel data on driver's license restriction laws, we find that the Black composition of state felony record populations is positively associated with the extensiveness of license restrictions for nondriving safety offenses. Conversely, we do not find a statistically significant relationship between states' felony record racial composition and their volume of license restrictions for driving safety offenses. These findings reveal a major divergence in pathways leading to congruent and incongruent collateral consequence statutes at the state level. The results are further notable given driving's central role in the US socioeconomic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cambodian law permits the taking of and the perfecting of a security interest in movables (e.g., goods) and in intangibles (e.g., legally enforceable rights, such as contracts and rights in property.) Cambodia's system is strongly patterned after Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code as developed in the United States. Perfection (i.e. notice to third parties that a security interest exists) is usually effected by the filing of a notice at the Secured Transactions Filing Office (the "STFO") of the Ministry of Commerce, although sometimes physical possession may be required. However, conflicting or ambiguous provisions in other Cambodian laws may adversely affect the security interest obtained and perfected under the Law on Secured Transactions. Most of these conflicting provisions are found in the Civil Code and the Pawn Shop Regulations. This Article explores key principles and nuances in Cambodia's Law on Secured Transactions, particularly those issues related to the nature of collateral, the perfection of security interest and the risk and conflicts arising under Cambodian laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When individuals are arrested or indicted for a crime, governments have legitimate interests in assuring that those individuals show up for future legal proceedings and also do not cause more social harm in the meanwhile. To serve those legitimate interests, governments may restrain the personal liberty of those presumptively innocent individuals--traditionally accomplished either by incarceration or by release subject to certain sureties and conditions. The choice, in short, is between jail and bail. Currently, governments skew that choice by subsidizing the costs of jail but not bail. The result--wholly predictable given the size and asymmetric nature of the subsidy--is that the United States maintains an inefficiently large jail population that both costs taxpayers too much and excessively limits the liberty of too many. Prior commentators and reformers have correctly identified the overuse of pretrial detention in jails as a major public policy crisis and have urged substantial reforms to current bail processes up to and including the abolition of state constitutional rights to bail (as one state has recently done). We believe that the hostility toward bail overlooks the root cause of the problem, which is the asymmetric subsidization of jail over bail. We propose a balanced subsidization system that can preserve the beneficial aspects of a traditional bail surety system while (i) reducing unnecessary and inefficient restraints on individual liberty, (ii) addressing the distributional inequities of current practices, and (iii) saving taxpayers billions of dollars per year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A contract generally only binds its parties. Security agreements, which create a security interest in specific personal property, stand out as a glaring exception to this rule. Under certain conditions, security interests not only bind the creditor and debtor, but also third-party creditors seeking to lend against the same collateral. To receive this extraordinary benefit, creditors must put the world on notice, usually by filing a financing statement with the state in which the debtor is located. Unfortunately, the Uniform Commercial Code (U.C.C.) Article 9 filing system fails to provide actual notice to interested parties and introduces risk of heavy financial losses. To solve this problem, this Article introduces a smart-contract-based U.C.C.-1 form built using Lexon, an innovative new programming language that enables the development of smart contracts in English. The proposed “Lexon U.C.C. Financing Statement” does much more than merely replicate the financing statement in digital form; it also performs several U.C.C. rules so that, for the first time, the filing system works as intended. In demonstrating that such a system remains compatible with existing law, the Lexon U.C.C. Financing Statement also reveals important lessons about the interaction of technology and commercial law. This Article brings cryptolaw to the U.C.C. in three parts. Part I examines the failure of the U.C.C. Article 9 filing system to achieve actual notice and argues that blockchain technology and smart contracts can help the system function as intended. Part II introduces the Lexon U.C.C. Financing Statement, demonstrating how the computer code implements U.C.C. provisions. Part II also examines the goals that influenced the design of the Lexon U.C.C. Financing Statement, discusses the new programming language used to build it, and argues that the prototype could be used now, under existing law. Part III proposes five innovations for the Article 9 filing system enabled by the Lexon U.C.C. Financing Statement. Part III then considers the broader implications of the project for commercial law, legal research around smart contracts, and the interplay between technology-neutral law and a lawyer’s increasingly important duty of technological competence. Ultimately, by providing the computer code needed to build the Lexon U.C.C. Financing Statement, this Article demonstrates not only that crypto-legal structures are possible, but that they can simplify the law and make it more accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent reforms across Eastern European countries have given more flexibility and information to parties to engage in secured debt transactions. The menu of assets legally accepted as collateral was enlarged to include movable assets (e.g., machinery and equipment). Generalized difference-in-differences tests show that firms operating more movable assets borrowed more as a result. Those firms also invested more, hired more, and became more efficient and profitable following the changes in the contracting environment. The financial deepening we document triggered important reallocation effects: firms affected by the reforms increased their share of fixed assets and employment in the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tort of collateral abuse of process has an enigmatic place in Australian tort law. Although Australian courts regularly debate and question the elements of this tort, as most recently demonstrated by the decision of the New South Wales Court of Appeal in Burton v Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (2019) 100 NSWLR 734, its exact formulation has been perpetually in dispute. Courts are given little assistance when they turn to Australian scholarship, as the tort has been the subject of limited academic scrutiny. In pursuit of greater clarity, this article offers a scholarly exploration of the contested tort of collateral abuse of process. The authors propose that it is only by accepting that the tort exists to compensate the wronged individual, punish and deter the tortfeasor, and maintain the integrity of the judicial process, that its precise elements can be properly assessed and coherently formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of the concepts of financial inclusion, sustainable finance, and access to credit in reform efforts to modernize secured transaction laws, as well as the role of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Secured Transactions Law. Other topics include the need to support individual entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), and the right to access financial products and services.

The article discusses the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Survey that highlights the most important developments of 2019 dealing with personal property secured transactions in the U.S. Topics covered include descriptions of judicial decisions during the survey period concerning transactions in which personal property secures an obligation, the legislative progress in this area, and the scope of Article 9 of the UCC.

Most of the Uniform Commercial Code revision and amendment projects of recent decades have drawn invaluable input and energy from the committees, subcommittees, task forces, and working groups of the ABA's Business Law Section. The projects addressed in this article are the initial promulgation of Article 2A on Leases; the repeal and revision of Article 6 on Bulk Sales; the revisions to Article 8 on Investment Securities; the revision of Article 9 on Secured Transactions; and the "Terrible Two's" projects involving UETA, the unfulfilled amendments to Articles 2 and 2A on Sales and Leases, and UCITA. Drawing on their firsthand experiences among many other sources, the authors show the wide variety of beneficial forms that the Section's input has taken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the emergence of a of secured transactions reform in the U.S. and the subsequent transplantation of that model into Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. It discuss the resolution of the legal controversy over buyer status in each of the four countries and examine subsequent legislative amendments.

ABSTRACT: I empirically analyze how changes in access to housing collateral affect homeowner borrowing behavior. To isolate the role of collateral constraints from that of wealth effects, I exploit the fully anticipated expiration of resale price controls on owner‐occupied housing in Montgomery County, Maryland. I estimate a marginal propensity to borrow out of housing collateral that ranges between $0.04 and $0.13 and is correlated with homeowners' initial leverage. Additional analysis of residential investment and ex‐post loan performance indicates that some of the extracted funds generated new expenditures. These results suggest a potentially important role for collateral constraints in driving household expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the challenges surrounding the financial stability of secured transactions in the U.S. Topics discussed include enactment of secured transactions laws for protecting transacting parties and consumers; enactment of Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act for protecting for controling credit risks; and securing loans and investment securities.

The article provides comparative analysis of the conflict of laws with respect to secured transactions. Topics discussed icnlude identifying areas of similarity and difference for transactional planning and litigation; take of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the same; and creation of harmonization of secured transactions under the U.S. Uniform Commercial Code.

The article focuses on the role of party autonomy in private international law for determining the third-party effects of cross-border commercial contracts. Topics discussed include assignment of claims to the payment of money between the assignor and the debtor; laws governing secured transactions and commercial law; and United Nations Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade.

The article discusess law governing the taking of security in intellectual property licenses. Topics discussed icnlude challenges surrounding secured transactions involving intellectual property licenses; enactment of Great Britain's Patents Act of 1977 and Trade Marks Act 1994 for governing the same; and analysis of laws governing the same across different jurisdictions.

The article discusses the roles of secured transactions laws and capital requirements in supporting the creation of credit. Topics disused include management of credit risk; maintaining security interests in personal property and reducing regulatory capital under the Basel Accords; and regulatory treatment of collateral securities.

In the field of secured transactions law reform, the development of international standards is largely complete. As the focus shifts towards domestic implementation, a new set of challenges arises. This article considers inter-organizational collaboration as it has evolved during the codification activities in Phase I and how it might be adapted to address several challenges frequently encountered during the course of domestic implementation in Phases II and III along the continuum of international harmonization. With examples drawn from the Organization of American States' Secured Transactions Project (2012-15), which had capacity building as its primary goal, the article examines the range of activities inherent in any major domestic law reform project undertaken with technical assistance, from the initial steps of raising awareness through to training the judiciary. To ensure domestic implementation of laws that are consistent with international standards and yield the desired outcomes of an operational secured transactions regime as demonstrated by fulsome user uptake, coordinated efforts will be required from all those involved in the process. In that respect, creating improved mechanisms for the exchange of information about the status of reforms, such as a 'single window clearing house', would be invaluable. The article concludes with reflections on the unique role of the Organization of American States, in ongoing cooperation with other entities, towards realizing the ultimate goal of secured transactions law reform and improved access to credit in the Americas. Too many cooks (unless coordinated) spoil the broth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article generally compares and briefly describes the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions and the Model Inter-American Law on Secured Transactions. It identifies the common characteristics and the differences between these two texts. And finds that, as a matter of fact, the UNCITRAL Model Law is a more recent text, prepared by an international (not regional) organization and is in many respects more complete than the OAS Model Law (for example, has complete conflict-of-laws and transition chapters, and comes with other texts that deal, inter alia, with the extremely important issue of the treatment of security interests in insolvency). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the codification of the law applicable to the creation, perfection, priority, and enforcement of security rights in movable assets-the relevant 'choice-of-law' or 'private international law' rules (STCOL rules) for secured transactions. The STCOL rules are a core element of secured transactions law. The article offers a framework for the assessment of existing and proposed future rules and their relationship to the substantive law of secured transactions, thereby illuminating an underdeveloped and under-theorized area of the law. The framework takes account of the emerged and emerging modern principles of secured transactions law, as epitomized by the recently completed UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions. Application of the framework involves an analysis of the interests of the various stakeholders affected by secured transactions law-assignees (secured creditors), assignors (grantors), third-party obligors (such as obligors on receivables owed to grantors), other third parties such as an assignor's creditors, transferees, and insolvency representative, and States that enact and apply secured transactions laws, including the STCOL rules. It considers the manner and extent to which STCOL rules take account of the stakeholder interests and serve the substantive rules of secured transactions laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmonization or modernization of legal rules on secured transactions should be undertaken in functional terms. The functional approach means that concepts, terminologies and operative results of individual legal rules are all stated in functional terms, not in doctrinal terms, and we should endeavor to harmonize operative results rather than legal concepts, terminologies or doctrines. This short article tries to show how the functional approach works or should work in the area of secured transaction law with examples from each stage of creation, perfection and priority. Legal doctrines in different jurisdictions reflect the jurisdiction's history, experience and culture (and often politics), and it is not easy to harmonize legal doctrines around the world. Indeed, it is not necessary to harmonize legal doctrines. What we need to harmonize is results. Thus, the focus in international discussion should be shifted from legal doctrines to the operative results of the relevant legal rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines developments in issues related to the 2003 revisions of Article 9 of the U.S. Uniform Commercial Code that deals with secured transaction. Topics discussed include insurance dispute concerning use of collateral to secure an obligation; e requirements for a security interest to attach; and requirement of an authenticated security agreement is fairly easy to satisfy.

In response to the inability of micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) to access credit to finance their business operations, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria passed the Central Bank of Nigeria (Registration of Security Interests in Movable Property by Banks and Other Financial Institutions in Nigeria) Regulations, No 1, 2015. The purport of this regulation is, among other things, to ensure that MSMEs can use items of personal property to create security. This article critically examines the regulation in the light of the building blocks of article 9 of the US Uniform Commercial Code, which is not only a paradigmatic piece of legislation but appears to be the model on which the Nigerian regulation is based. This critical examination leads the authors to conclude that, although the regulation represents the first steps to reform, much more remains to be done to ensure effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how Article 9 of Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) applies to planned secured transaction in the U.S. It discusses several ways in which a person might fail to perfect a security interest under the UCC's Article 9 and end up losing all interest in the collateral to some other claimant .

The post-crisis EU regulatory framework for term securitisation is based on the false premise that securitisation is dangerous. EU regulation impedes investment in this strong credit and distorts the markets. In the event of a hard Brexit, Parliament should abandon the EUframework in favour of an honest, evidence-based approach to regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on mere evidence rule with the regulation of electronic border searches in contemporary Canada and constitutionally justified by the state's border security interests. It mentions suspicionless digital searches at customs are unreasonable under section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It also mentions legislative and jurisprudential context for customs searches of digital devices and compelled disclosures of passwords.

The High Court's decision in Stewart v Atco Controls Pty Ltd (in liq) is important for insolvency practitioners because it clarifies the basis for the creation, by operation of law, of a liquidator's charge or lien over a secured asset to secure the liquidator's expenses in the preservation, care or realisation of that asset. This article argues that post-Atco, the only justifiable doctrinal rationalisation for the creation of the liquidator's charge or lien is that a liquidator, as a fiduciary and officer of the court, who has not acted in breach of her duties, ought to be remunerated for expenses reasonably and properly incurred in preserving or realising a secured creditor's right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the legal aspects of guarantees given by spouses as security for bank debts as of 2015, and it mentions the scope and limitations of independent advice in relation to commercial transactions. An undue influence legal doctrine is addressed, along with a special equity rule and the legal rights and obligations of guarantors. Several British and Australian legal cases are assessed, including matters involving financial advice and firms such as the Beneficial Finance Corp.

Non-possessory secured transactions are key components of market economies. National and international legal reform projects have been advanced to further their use and broaden access to credit. Yet reforms appear to be limited by practical obstacles posed by national legal categories. This article shifts the focus from domestically defined categories to the operational rules that allow secured transactions to perform their economic function of managing credit risk. This shift leads to a reconsideration of the rules governing publicity and an examination of the policy issues underpinning the evolution of publicity. The article argues that international publicity standards, based on a registry system, could offer a new strategy for reforming secured transactions laws. The recently adopted UNCITRAL's Registry Guide is analysed and considered as a possible tool for reforming national secured transactions laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the categories of art lending and the law on the possession of art collateral in Switzerland. Topics discussed include several art lending groups such as private banks, auction houses, and specialist lenders, the pledge as a collateral for movable property, and the law governing the transfer of possession.

An essay is presented which addresses several of the restrictions that are impacting security interests for mineral titles in the Organisation pour l'Harmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires (OHADA) area as of 2015, despite the claim that the OHADA has unified the law governing the granting and enforcement of securities in all of its Member States through Uniform Acts in 1997 and 2010. OHADA securities laws and regulations are examined, as well as mineral property rights.

This Article argues that the operation of maritime taw undermines a primary justification for creditor priorities under U.S. law. Under current law, when a debtor becomes insolvent, its secured creditors will be paid the full amount of their debt to the extent of their security interest, even if that leaves nothing to pay unsecured creditors. This is controversial with respect to involuntary unsecured creditors, particularly those with tort claims against the debtor. Defenders of this scheme of priorities have argued that allowing greater priority to involuntary creditors would hinder the availability or increase the cost of credit. However, involuntary creditors have long enjoyed priority over secured creditors under maritime law, and it does not appear that firms subject to maritime laxo heme experienced these effects. Experience with this priority scheme u nder maritime law may provide support for efforts to reform current U.S. law to give greater priority to involuntary creditors more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how there are still a limited number of security interests available for commercial companies in the wake of the Organisation for Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa's (OHADA's) enactment of Uniform Acts in 1997 and 2010 which govern the granting and enforcement of securities in all of the OHADA's Member States. International financial transactions are mentioned, along with common and civil laws in Africa. Mortgage laws and African business laws are also examined.

The article examines the scope and significance of the encroachment and overreach of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit into the stewardship of patent law with relevance to its decisions concerning commercial law. It analyzes the Federal Circuit's overreach in state contract law concerning sale and purchase of property assets, secured transactions law and fraudulent conveyance law and state trust law concerning liquidation and bankruptcy of trusts and its beneficiaries.

The article discusses the potential role of the English law of secured transactions (ST) as a model for development of ST laws in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Area which includes nations such as Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco, focusing on comparative law. The roles that capital and credit markets play in the economic development of a country are mentioned, along with the legal regimes for the creation, perfection, and enforcement of security interests. Political instability is examined.

A summary is presented of the Security Interests (Jersey) Law 2012 adopted on July 19, 2011 and registered by the Royal Court on July 27, 2012.

The article offers information on the history, purpose and scope of the Security Interests Law 2012 illustrating a new framework for taking of collateral security over intangible assets in Jersey. It discusses the contribution of Roy Goode, an expert on asset-security and insolvency law, and the Jersey Financial Services Commission in the formation of the 2012 Security Interests Law.

The Australian Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) is based in part on the Saskatchewan Personal Property Security Act, but it departs from the Saskatchewan model in numerous significant respects in terms of both drafting and substance. The differences fall into three main categories: (1) drafting differences; (2) substantive differences which are the result of mistakes on the part of the Australian law makers; and (3) substantive differences which reflect deliberate policy choices. For the most part, matters falling within categories (1) and (2) are unlikely to interest a Canadian observer, but matters falling within category (3) transcend the purely parochial and there is clearly room for an international dialogue at this level. This article focuses on selected aspects of the Australian PPSA, comparing them with the Canadian position and evaluating the alternatives. The article also addresses relevant aspects of Article 9 of the United States Uniform Commercial Code. The topics covered are as follows: (I) the Australian federal government's take-over of the PPSA legislative agenda; (2) the Australian PPSA's approach to security interests in cash collateral as compared with the Canadian approach; and (3) selected registration issues [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the reported disintegration of the American Law Institute's various "Restatement of Property" treatises as of January 2014, focusing on the "bundle of rights" substantive legal theory in relation to American property laws. According to the article, property law encompasses the rights of persons with respect to tangible and intangible items including land, chattels, and security interests. Former University of Chicago legal scholar Harry A. Bigelow is also mentioned.

The article discusses the similarities and differences between the Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act (MTA), which aims to facilitate economic development for tribes in India, and Revised Article 9 (RA9) of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) on which the MTA is modeled. It offers various transactional checklists for lawyers working with the tribal codes based on the MTA.

The article focuses on enforcing of financial collateral in Great Britain Financial Collateral Directive 2002 by the Financial Collateral Arrangements (No 2) Regulations 2003. Topics discussed include relation to transactions on the wholesale financial markets, involvement of collateral in public authorities, financial institutions or large companies and use of securities and cash as collateral in finance.

The article offers information commercial and consumer law. Topics discussed include laws governing contractual secured transactions under U.S. Uniform Commercial Code; Dusenbery v. Hawks court case addressing collateral lien claim; and Agropur, Inc. v. Scoular court case addressing warranty of merchantability.