Secured Transactions Law Reform, Priorities and the Nature of a Security Interest

While Government interest is lacking in reforming the English law of secured transactions, there is interest in the academic and practitioner community in different models of reform. This paper examines what type of security interest a statutory security right along the lines of the Personal Property Security Act interest would be. It seems that such an interest would be common law right, but also a charge and resembles most closely a legal version of the floating charge. The paper examines some of the implications of that characterisation as regards priority vis-à-vis interests outside of the statutory regime, and the scope for the retention and use of equitable doctrines such as marshalling. It also compares the situation to that under the City of London Law Society’s proposed Secured Transactions Code.