PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

This new edition encompasses a number of changes briefly summarized below, but perhaps the most obvious change lies in the new title. The current edition, like the former one, systematically covers both security and quasi-security in one exposition. The previous title did not accurately capture the scope of the book and has been changed for that reason. Despite the omission of the words Personal Property from the new title, the book has not changed in this regard, and covers all forms of property other than land, which is dealt with incidentally as far as may be necessary.

Since we wrote the first edition of this book, there have been a number of significant and interesting developments in the law, and there may be more to come, if the proposals put forward by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills in relation to the registration of company charges (discussed in ) on the uses of security and quasi-security interests in debt financing, giving a general overview of the application of the legal principles discussed in the book.

The re-ordering, we hope, will enable the material to be presented in a more logical and accessible manner. The chapter on financial collateral, which was in the section on registration and other modes of perfection in the first edition, now focuses largely on the definition of security financial collateral arrangement in the Financial Collateral Arrangements (No 2) Regulations 2003, as amended in 2010, while the detailed application of some of the consequences of a security interest falling within that definition, such as the right of use and the right of appropriation, are dealt with elsewhere in the book. The content of entitled Authorized Dispositions. Much of the text in the other chapters has been reconsidered and rewritten.

It would be impossible to list all the new cases, legislation and commentary included in this second edition. Nevertheless, a few very important developments will be mentioned here. Light has been thrown on the characterization and interpretation of repo and stock lending agreements by the Australian case of Beconwood Securities Pty Ltd v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited [2008] FCA 594 and one of the many hearings in the Lehman litigation, as well as in Pearson v Lehman Brothers Finance SA [2010] EWHC 2914, and more light has also been thrown on the characterization process by Brighton & Hove City Council v .

In ) include Fearns v Anglo-Dutch Paints & Chemical Co Ltd [2010] EWHC 2366 (Ch) (legal set-off), Geldof Constructivie NV v Simon Carves Ltd [2010] EWCA Civ 667 (equitable set-off) and Re Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander Ltd [2010] EWCA Civ 518 (insolvency set-off), together with Re Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander Ltd [2011] UKSC 48 (set-off and the rule in Cherry v Boultbee ). There have been numerous cases on netting under ISDA rules, pre-packaged administrations and on the prescribed part and s 176A of the Insolvency Act 1986; important decisions on administration and insolvency expenses (notably, Re Nortel GmbH [2011] EWCA Civ 1124 and Innovate Logistics Ltd v Sunberry Properties Ltd [2008] EWCA Civ 1321), and developments in the area of schemes of arrangement (especially Re Bluebrook Ltd [2009] EWHC 214 (Ch)).

As with the first edition, the four authors have collaborated closely on the whole of the work and accept joint responsibility for the whole. However, it may be useful to record that principal responsibility for the first drafts of various chapters was as follows: