Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
REPLACING THE BILLS OF SALE ACTS
LC 369
Magda Raczynska*
In September 2016 the Law Commission presented to Parliament its Report on Bills of Sale,1 which concluded a two-year examination of the Bills of Sale Act 1878 and the Bills of Sale Act 1878 (Amendment) Act 1882. It recommended that the Acts should be abolished and replaced with alternative legislation. This note considers the key aspects of the proposed reform.
The Bills of Sale Acts govern documentary transfers of property in personal chattels from an individual (A) to another person (B) where A is to remain in possession of the goods and B is vested with a power to seize them.2 The Acts prescribe the form of the documents and impose a requirement of their registration at the High Court. By virtue of insolvency legislation, the registration requirement was extended to general assignments
* Lecturer in Laws, University College London and Deputy Executive Director of the Secured Transactions Law Reform Project. The views expressed in this comment are the author's own and should not be attributed to the Project or any of its members.
1. Law Commission, Bills of Sale (Law Com No 369, 2016) (hereafter “LC 369”). Note also Law Commission, Bills of Sale: A Consultation Paper (LCCP 225, 2015) (hereafter “LCCP 225”).
2. The 1878 Act, s.3. See generally, eg, H Beale, M Bridge, L Gullifer, E Lomnicka, The Law of Security and Title-based Financing, 2nd edn (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012), paras 11.03–11.62.
Case and comment
197