This paper deals with the interaction of insolvency and secured transactions law in a “bijural” jurisdiction, composed of sub-jurisdictions that come from different legal origins. It gives an introduction to bijuralism and then examines an example, namely the interaction of Canadian insolvency law and provincial secured transactions law. It stresses the different origins of Anglo-Canadian law and Québec law, in particular the difference in property law between the two and how it affects secured transactions law. It argues that given these fun- damental differences, the provinces have achieved a relatively harmonized secured transac- tions law. The paper goes on to compare the interaction in Canada with the interaction of European law and the law of EU member states. While the Canadian experience can serve as an example for the interaction in Europe, it also demonstrates shortcomings that need to be addressed in Canada as well as by a European insolvency legislator.

This paper deals with the interaction of insolvency and secured transactions law in a “bijural” jurisdiction, composed of sub-jurisdictions that come from different legal origins. It gives an introduction to bijuralism and then examines an example, namely the interaction of Canadian insolvency law and provincial secured transactions law. It stresses the different origins of Anglo-Canadian law and Québec law, in particular the difference in property law between the two and how it affects secured transactions law. It argues that given these fun- damental differences, the provinces have achieved a relatively harmonized secured transac- tions law. The paper goes on to compare the interaction in Canada with the interaction of European law and the law of EU member states. While the Canadian experience can serve as an example for the interaction in Europe, it also demonstrates shortcomings that need to be addressed in Canada as well as by a European insolvency legislator.

Since the 1980s, regulators in the U.S. and the U.K. have protected the collateral taker's right to re-use securities collateral in securities financing and OTC derivatives markets on the understanding that it would promote liquidity and credit growth, and reduce systemic risk. However, this rationale was incomplete: it failed to acknowledge the full implications of collateral re-use for systemic risk. In this dissertation, I aim to complete that understanding by illustrating how the re-use of securities collateral in those markets can aggravate systemic risk. In particular, I describe two effects. First, re-using securities collateral multiplies the number of market participants that will be exposed to changes in the price of the collateral asset and can thus amplify the role of asset prices as channels of contagion. Second, by conferring a right to re-use, the collateral provider will effectively waive its proprietary interests in the collateral assets and retain a mere contractual claim against the collateral taker for the return of equivalent securities. This transformation will accentuate the incentive of the collateral provider to run from an over-collateralised collateral taker if the latter were to experience financial difficulty. Information asymmetries and a lack of coordination among collateral providers could push the collateral taker over the brink of insolvency. These risks pose an obvious question for regulators: what should we do about collateral re-use? At a time when international bodies are drawing their attention to this widespread market practice, the question is an invitation to a very timely reflection. The final chapter of the dissertation offers an answer to this question and assesses the potential efficacy of the most recent regulatory initiatives in relation to collateral re-use.

This thesis is the first detailed and comprehensive research of the history of the 2001 Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (the 'Convention' or 'CTC') and its protocols. It is submitted that the quality of response to the various challenges of the treaty-making process can serve as a measure of a convention's success, and that the unique characteristics of the CTC make it a prime target for such research. The author identifies and analyses the most problematic issues in the process of development of the Convention and its protocols, including the latest draft protocol on mining, agricultural and construction equipment. This research focuses on the documentary history of the CTC and its Aircraft Protocol (as the only protocol currently in force), relying primarily on the materials published by UNIDROIT and other international organisations, and shows that not all of the challenges found an adequate response in the Convention. Nonetheless, the shortcomings pale in comparison with the Convention's achievements: the CTC has created a highly effective machinery for regulating international interests in mobile assets. The author does not perform empirical ex post analysis of implementation of the Cape Town Convention, but this thesis will form a solid background for such research in the future. This study, apart from its scholarly importance, has clear practical value: its conclusions (including a number of treaty-making lessons originating from this research) can assist governmental officials, representatives of international organisations and legal advisors (both external and internal) participating in the treaty-making process and, it is hoped, will strengthen he attractiveness of conventions as an instrument of harmonising commercial law in the future.

La subordination financière est l’établissement d’une hiérarchie entre créanciers. Avant une procédure de répartition, cet ordre entre créances est mis en place à l’aide d’échéances différentes et de stipulations particulières (blocage des paiements). Après les répartitions, ce classement peut être créé par la suppression de l’égalité entre créanciers. Celle-ci est tantôt légale (droit de préférence), tantôt volontaire (déclassement) et s’assimile dans ce cas à une renonciation. Au terme de cette hiérarchie, certains créanciers seront payés en dernier, les créanciers résiduels. Le financement des sociétés est décrit par la distinction entre les associés et les créanciers. Devant la faiblesse de cette division, la doctrine a proposé les fonds propres. Ce concept est redéfini en mettant l’accent sur la subordination, qui fait clairement apparaître la qualité de créancier résiduel de l’associé. Il conduit à une nouvelle lecture du financement de la société, qui est transdisciplinaire / Financial subordination establishes a hierarchy between creditors. This degree is implemented through the legal or intentional suppression of creditors’ right to equal distributions in the bankruptcy proceedings. When it is a priority claim, this loss is imposed on creditors by law. When it is a subordinated claim, creditors accept to waive their right to equal distributions. In both cases, some creditors will be paid only after the full payment of others. Those are called residual creditors.Corporation financing is based upon a division between owner and lender. Traditionally, the former puts money into the business through legal capital while the latter grants loans. As this view no longer depicts the reality of corporation financing, the French jurisprudence tried to replace it with the concept of equity, which is broader than the legal capital. In this work, equity is redefined in setting in its core financial subordination, which clearly shows why a shareholder is a residual claimant. This new definition of equity, which is shared by other disciplines outside law gives a different approach to the financing of companies under French law

This study compares the legal principles applicable in both South Africa and Kenya in the creation of security by means of movables. It identifies the forms of security that can be created in the two jurisdictions. The main focus will be on the creation, publicity, priority of security interest and enforcement of the said interests. The research will in addition establish the challenges (if any) that are encountered when creating security by means of movables in Kenya and identify practical solutions that can be adopted in order to improve the creation of security by means of movables in Kenya. / Private Law / LL. M. (Property Law)

La réforme et l’harmonisation du droit des sûretés mobilières sont à l’ordre du jour de plusieurs organisations internationales, car il est admis qu’un régime de sûretés efficient favorise l’accès au crédit à de faibles coûts. L’harmonisation de ce droit comporte deux volets. D’une part, dans l’Occident industrialisé, les efforts d’harmonisation vont de la réforme des droits internes à l’établissement de régimes spéciaux relativement à des biens spécifiques (principalement les biens mobiles de grande valeur, tels les aéronefs, le matériel ferroviaire roulant et les satellites, et les biens incorporels, comprenant les créances, valeurs mobilières, actifs financiers et titres intermédiés). Ces efforts d’harmonisation démontrent que d’un point de vue systémique, malgré quelques différences notables, les régimes nord-américains et européens sont fondés sur des principes similaires et atteignent des résultats comparables. En résulte l’émergence d’un ordre juridique transnational en droit des sûretés mobilières, fondé sur les principes de la primauté de l’individu et la reconnaissance du droit de propriété de l’individu dans ses biens, mis en œuvre grâce à l’État de droit. D’autre part, les institutions financières internationales encouragent l’établissement de régimes de sûretés dans les pays en voie de développement qui obéissent aux mêmes critères que ceux de l’Occident, en insistant sur les réformes institutionnelles et juridiques visant l’établissement d’une bonne gouvernance et l’État de droit. Cependant, une transposition des régimes occidentaux ne peut se faire sans heurts dans les pays en voie de développement, notamment pour des raisons socio-culturelles et politiques. Lorsque les principes de la primauté de l’individu, de la propriété individuelle et de l’État de droit ne sont pas reconnus dans un pays donné, la réforme et l’harmonisation du droit des sûretés s’en trouvent compromis. La démonstration de l’état d’avancement de la réforme et de l’harmonisation du droit des sûretés dans les pays occidentaux industrialisés est faite grâce à une comparaison du Uniform Commercial Code, du Code civil du Québec, des Personal Property Security Acts des provinces canadiennes de common law, des principes des droits français et anglais, de l’influence du droit communautaire sur les pays membres de l’Union Européenne. Sont analysés, aussi, dans cette optique, les principaux instruments de l’harmonisation du droit émanant des organisations internationales. Par ailleurs, deux études de cas relatifs à la réforme du crédit foncier en Égypte et à la réforme de l’urbanisme et de l’habitat en République démocratique du Congo, viennent étayer les difficultés que rencontrent les institutions internationales, telles la Banque mondiale et l’ACDI, dans le cadre de projets de réformes visant la bonne gouvernance et l’instauration d’un véritable État de droit, en partie à cause d’un pluralisme des ordres juridiques de ces pays. / The reform and harmonization of secured transactions on movable (or personal) property is fostered by international organizations, on the assumption that an efficient regime of secured transactions will give access to affordable credit to a large number of persons and corporations. Such reform and harmonization process can be explained according to its two main features. Firstly, in Western and developped countries, the focus is on endeavours to harmonize the various regimes internally and to establish special regimes with respect to specific assets (for instance, high value mobile equipment, such as aircrafts, rolling stock or satellites, on the one hand, or incorporeal property, including securities, financial assets or security entitlements, on the other hand). Even though some differences remains from a systemic point of view, north american and european regimes are based on similar principles and achieve comparable results. It is therefore possible to see the emergence of a transnational legal order in the law of secured transactions, based on individuals and the enforcement of their rights of ownership, ascertained by the Rule of Law principle. Secondly, international financial institutions are encouraging the implementation of secured transactions regimes in developing countries along the same criteria as those used in Western developed countries, in the context of institutional and legal reforms under governance and rule of law projects. However, Western regimes must be adapted and customized before they are transplanted into a developing country. Indeed, for socio-cultural and political reasons, it is not possible to establish the same kind of regime therein. When individual rights and freedoms, including the right of ownership and the Rule of Law, are not recognized, the reform and harmonization of secured transactions is not likely to happen. The status of advancement of the reform and harmonization of secured transactions in the developed world is illustrated by a comparison between the Uniform Commercial Code, the Civil Code of Québec, the Personal Property Security Acts of canadian common law provinces, the applicable principles under both French and English Law, and the influence of European Law on its member states. An analysis of the main harmonization instruments proposed by international organizations is also conducted. Finally, the pitfalls of governance and rule of law reform projects are well described by two case studies. The first one deals with real estate and mortgage law reforms in Egypt, with a goal to encourage affordable access to housing; the second one is about urban planing and housing reforms in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The existence of a multiplicity of legal orders in these countries explains the difficulties encountered in such reform processes.

La réforme et l’harmonisation du droit des sûretés mobilières sont à l’ordre du jour de plusieurs organisations internationales, car il est admis qu’un régime de sûretés efficient favorise l’accès au crédit à de faibles coûts. L’harmonisation de ce droit comporte deux volets. D’une part, dans l’Occident industrialisé, les efforts d’harmonisation vont de la réforme des droits internes à l’établissement de régimes spéciaux relativement à des biens spécifiques (principalement les biens mobiles de grande valeur, tels les aéronefs, le matériel ferroviaire roulant et les satellites, et les biens incorporels, comprenant les créances, valeurs mobilières, actifs financiers et titres intermédiés). Ces efforts d’harmonisation démontrent que d’un point de vue systémique, malgré quelques différences notables, les régimes nord-américains et européens sont fondés sur des principes similaires et atteignent des résultats comparables. En résulte l’émergence d’un ordre juridique transnational en droit des sûretés mobilières, fondé sur les principes de la primauté de l’individu et la reconnaissance du droit de propriété de l’individu dans ses biens, mis en œuvre grâce à l’État de droit. D’autre part, les institutions financières internationales encouragent l’établissement de régimes de sûretés dans les pays en voie de développement qui obéissent aux mêmes critères que ceux de l’Occident, en insistant sur les réformes institutionnelles et juridiques visant l’établissement d’une bonne gouvernance et l’État de droit. Cependant, une transposition des régimes occidentaux ne peut se faire sans heurts dans les pays en voie de développement, notamment pour des raisons socio-culturelles et politiques. Lorsque les principes de la primauté de l’individu, de la propriété individuelle et de l’État de droit ne sont pas reconnus dans un pays donné, la réforme et l’harmonisation du droit des sûretés s’en trouvent compromis. La démonstration de l’état d’avancement de la réforme et de l’harmonisation du droit des sûretés dans les pays occidentaux industrialisés est faite grâce à une comparaison du Uniform Commercial Code, du Code civil du Québec, des Personal Property Security Acts des provinces canadiennes de common law, des principes des droits français et anglais, de l’influence du droit communautaire sur les pays membres de l’Union Européenne. Sont analysés, aussi, dans cette optique, les principaux instruments de l’harmonisation du droit émanant des organisations internationales. Par ailleurs, deux études de cas relatifs à la réforme du crédit foncier en Égypte et à la réforme de l’urbanisme et de l’habitat en République démocratique du Congo, viennent étayer les difficultés que rencontrent les institutions internationales, telles la Banque mondiale et l’ACDI, dans le cadre de projets de réformes visant la bonne gouvernance et l’instauration d’un véritable État de droit, en partie à cause d’un pluralisme des ordres juridiques de ces pays. / The reform and harmonization of secured transactions on movable (or personal) property is fostered by international organizations, on the assumption that an efficient regime of secured transactions will give access to affordable credit to a large number of persons and corporations. Such reform and harmonization process can be explained according to its two main features. Firstly, in Western and developped countries, the focus is on endeavours to harmonize the various regimes internally and to establish special regimes with respect to specific assets (for instance, high value mobile equipment, such as aircrafts, rolling stock or satellites, on the one hand, or incorporeal property, including securities, financial assets or security entitlements, on the other hand). Even though some differences remains from a systemic point of view, north american and european regimes are based on similar principles and achieve comparable results. It is therefore possible to see the emergence of a transnational legal order in the law of secured transactions, based on individuals and the enforcement of their rights of ownership, ascertained by the Rule of Law principle. Secondly, international financial institutions are encouraging the implementation of secured transactions regimes in developing countries along the same criteria as those used in Western developed countries, in the context of institutional and legal reforms under governance and rule of law projects. However, Western regimes must be adapted and customized before they are transplanted into a developing country. Indeed, for socio-cultural and political reasons, it is not possible to establish the same kind of regime therein. When individual rights and freedoms, including the right of ownership and the Rule of Law, are not recognized, the reform and harmonization of secured transactions is not likely to happen. The status of advancement of the reform and harmonization of secured transactions in the developed world is illustrated by a comparison between the Uniform Commercial Code, the Civil Code of Québec, the Personal Property Security Acts of canadian common law provinces, the applicable principles under both French and English Law, and the influence of European Law on its member states. An analysis of the main harmonization instruments proposed by international organizations is also conducted. Finally, the pitfalls of governance and rule of law reform projects are well described by two case studies. The first one deals with real estate and mortgage law reforms in Egypt, with a goal to encourage affordable access to housing; the second one is about urban planing and housing reforms in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The existence of a multiplicity of legal orders in these countries explains the difficulties encountered in such reform processes.

This study compares the legal principles applicable in both South Africa and Kenya in the creation of security by means of movables. It identifies the forms of security that can be created in the two jurisdictions. The main focus will be on the creation, publicity, priority of security interest and enforcement of the said interests. The research will in addition establish the challenges (if any) that are encountered when creating security by means of movables in Kenya and identify practical solutions that can be adopted in order to improve the creation of security by means of movables in Kenya. / Private Law / LL. M. (Property Law)