Pretoria University Law Press (PULP)

PULP is an open-access publisher based at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria

Personal property law in Nigeria
by Mike A.A. Ozekhome
2020
ISBN: 978-1-920538-97-2
Pages: 224
Print version: Available
Electronic version: Free PDF available

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About the publication

This book addresses core issues of personal property law in Nigeria from a comparative perspective. It offers a detailed account of the laws governing personal property and the different lightweight reforms undertaken mainly through case law before the enactment of the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act in 2017. The book draws insights from the United States UCC article 9, being unarguably the first law that introduced the concept of modern secured transactions law, and was influential to many common and civilian law systems in reforming their personal property laws. Given that personal property law is fairly new in Nigeria, and also in Africa in general, the main aim of the book is to provide judges and academic researchers with a rich collection of tested solutions from jurisdictions that have experimented with modern secured transactions law for several decades. The primary and secondary works that were referenced in the book have tracked the different epochal shifts in legal thinking and their significances. This may assist scholars and judges in Nigeria to come up with bespoke interpretations of the Act and solutions to underlying problems on credit and security, that will satisfy the local conditions as opposed to copying the unaltered solutions from the United States and other advanced systems.


Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgments
List of abbreviations
1 Introduction
2 Synopsis of the chapters
3 A note on terminology
CHAPTER ONE
SECURED FINANCING BEFORE THE ST ACT
1.1 Introduction
1.2 The heightened importance of credit
1.3 Applicable laws on credit in the erstwhile regime
1.4 The problems posed by compartmentalisation of secured credit laws
1.5 Chattel mortgage: The Bill of Sale Act of 1882
1.6 Chattel pledge
1.7 The Pawnbroker’s Act of 1917
1.8 Lien
1.9 Warehouse financing
1.10 Factoring
1.11 Trust receipts
1.12 Retention of title transactions
1.13 Receivables financing: The death of the rule in Dearle v Hall
1.14 Quasi securities
1.15 Flaw asset and set-off
1.16 Letters of credit
1.17 Comfort letters
1.18 Letters of guarantee and indemnity
1.19 The co-existence of floating charge with floating lien: What problems might arise from the conflation?
1.20 Why it made sense to break ties with the English genealogy in the law reform
1.21 The points of divergence between the English and US models
1.22 Why the English Law was not the right inspirational source for Nigeria
1.23 The concept of legal origins: Does legal transplantation work?
1.24 Can law be transplanted?
1.25 Law reform is more than a copy and paste
1.26 Does culture play any crucial role in transplantation?
1.27 The increasing need to infuse economics into legal studies
1.28 The new ST Act: A harbinger of economic success or failure?
1.29 Concluding remarks: The urgent need to amend section 2(3) of the ST Act 53
CHAPTER TWO
THE CREATION OF SECURITY INTERESTS
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Objectives of the ST Act
2.3 Scope of the ST Act
2.4 Financial versus operating leases
2.5 Set-off
2.6 Exclusion of land
2.7 Exclusion of ships and aircrafts
2.8 Characterisation of interests as either equitable or legal
2.9 The underlying implications of a banker’s supreme right of set-off
2.10 Creation of security interests
2.11 Debtor’s rights in the collateral
2.12 Is a security interest created to the extent of a debtor’s right in the collateral?
2.13 Receivable financing: The rule in Dearle v Hall
2.14 The invalidation of non-assignment clauses
2.15 Contents of a security agreement
2.16 Description of collateral in security agreement
2.17 Concluding remarks
CHAPTER THREE
PERFECTION OF SECURITY INTERESTS
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Some policy issues surrounding perfection
3.3 The nexus and distinction between creation and third-party effectiveness
3.4 Who are ‘third parties’?
3.5 The nexus between third-party effectiveness and priority
3.6 A quick glance at the methods of perfection under the ST Act
3.7 ‘Control’ as a method of perfection
3.8 Registration in the CBN collateral registry
3.9 Registration of a financing statement differs from thecreation of a security agreement
3.10 Registration is only a superstructure in relation to third-party effectiveness
3.11 The indispensability of collateral registry in a modern secured transactions system
3.12 The CBN collateral registry and other specialised registries
3.13 ‘Possession’ as a perfection method
3.14 The ST Act does not distinguish between actual and constructive possession
3.15 Possession by a third party
3.16 Possession in the context of enforcement
3.17 Registration in a specialised registry
3.18 Registration of financing statements
3.19 Contents of a financing statement
3.20 Perfection of purchase money security interest
3.21 Automatic perfection of a security interest in proceeds
3.22 Perfection in the context of fixtures
3.22.1 Fixtures affixed onto an immovable asset
3.22.2 Fixtures affixed onto a movable asset
3.23 Automatic perfection of a security interest in a mass or product
3.24 Continuity and lapse of perfection
3.25 Errors in a financing statement
3.26 Amendment of a registered financing statement
3.27 Concluding remarks
CHAPTER FOUR
PRIORITY OF SECURITY INTERESTS
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Priority of security interests
4.3 Same priority for original collateral, proceeds and advances
4.4 Transfer of obligations does not affect priority
4.5 Voluntary subordination priority
4.6 Priority of purchase money security interest and its proceeds
4.7 Priority of security interests in processed or co-mingled goods
4.8 Priority with respect to receipt of funds and cash
4.9 Priority of lien holders
4.10 Priority of holders of negotiable instruments and title documents
4.11 Rights of a buyer or lessee of goods
4.12 Rights and priority of assignees
4.13 Priority of a judgment creditor
CHAPTER FIVE
ENFORCEMENT OF SECURITY INTERESTS
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Scope of enforcement
5.3 Repossession of collateral
5.4 Sale of repossessed collateral
5.5 Discharge of subordinate security interests
5.6 Statement of account of disposition
5.7 Distribution of proceeds of sale
5.8 The right of redemption and reinstatement of security agreement
5.9 Conclusion
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books; chapters in books
Journal articles; papers; seminars

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