Law of Secured Credit Book

The Law of Secured Credit is a major and in-depth treatise on the range of complex and often interrelated areas of law governing secured transactions. It is the first work to analyse New Zealand’s law of secured credit which brings together property law, real and personal property securities law, consumer credit law, insolvency law and the law of personal guarantees. This work also provides a comprehensive analysis of the Australian law on the same topics, and compares the law from the two countries. It engages with issues of  international importance, such as the proper ambit of the anti-deprivation rule in insolvency law and the place of the Quistclose trust in the law of secured credit.

The first four chapters provide an overview of the law of secured credit and discuss how the law classifies and distinguishes between the concepts of real property, personal property and fixtures. The recognition of security interests under personal property securities legislation and the characterisation of particular transactions is covered in chapter 5. Secured transactions in the form of mortgages of real property and pledges and liens of personal property are dealt with in chapters 6 and 7. Attachment, perfection and enforceability of security interests are then addressed in chapters 8 and 9.

Chapters 10 and 15 cover the provision of secured credit to consumers and the consumer protection measures that the law extends to debtors. Chapters 11 to 13 discuss the law governing the priority of security interests, and chapter 14 considers the procedures to be followed when enforcing real property mortgages and personal property security interests. Chapter 16 examines the general law of guarantees, which can provide creditors with an effective alternative to security interests. Chapter 17 canvasses the status of security interests when debtors are insolvent, including an examination of when transactions designed to protect creditors might be void as being contrary to the general principle of equal sharing.

The final chapter discusses general conflict-of-laws principles that are relevant to secured transactions, and the way in which personal property securities legislation provides for security interests in imported personal property. It also surveys the significant differences between New Zealand and Australian law.

Because of the breadth and quality of its commentary and practical treatment of the transactional aspects of the law of secured transactions, The Law of Secured Credit provides an invaluable and practical resource for commercial lawyers and professionals in the business sector on both sides of the Tasman.