Secured transactions law has been subjected to a close scrutiny over the last two decades. One of the main reasons for this is the importance of availability of credit and the consequent need to reform collateral laws in order to improve access to finance. The ability to give security effectively influences not only the cost of credit but also, in some cases, whether credit will be available at all. This requires rules that are transparent and readily accessible to non-lawyers as well as rules that recognise the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises.
This book critically engages with the challenges posed by inefficient secured credit laws. It offers a comparative analysis of the reasons and the needs for a secured transactions law reform, as well as discussion of the steps taken in many common law, civil law and mixed law jurisdictions.
The book, written under the auspices of the Secured Transactions Law Reform Project, informs the debate about reform and advances novel arguments written by world renowned experts that will build upon the existing literature, and as such will be of interest to academics, legal practitioners and the judiciary involved in secured transactions law around the world.
The text considers reform initiatives that have taken place up to the end of April 2016. It has not been possible to incorporate events since then into the discussion. However, notable developments include the banks decree passed by the Italian Government on 29th June 2016, and the adoption of the Model Law on Secured Transactions by UNCITRAL on 1st July 2016.

Louise Gullifer is Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Oxford.
Orkun Akseli is Senior Lecturer in Commercial Law at Durham University.

1. Introduction
Louise Gullifer
Part I: Modernisation of the Law of Secured Transactions in Common and Mixed Law Jurisdictions
2. An Outline of a Typical PPSA Scheme
Hugh Beale
3. An Historical Overview of UCC Article 9
Peter Winship
4. Transplanting Article 9: The Canadian PPSA Experience
Catherine Walsh
5. Current Issues in Secured Transactions Law in Canada: An Ontario Perspective
Anthony Duggan
6. The New Zealand Perspective
Mike Gedye
7. Australian Secured Transactions Law Reform
David Brown
8. Secured Transactions Law Reform in Malawi: the 2013 Personal Property Security Act
Marek Dubovec and Cyprian Kambili
9. Reforming the Law of Secured Transactions in Jersey
Roy Goode and John Rainer
10. Reforming the Company Charge Register in Ireland
Noel McGrath
11. Reforming the Law of Secured Transactions in Scotland
Andrew JM Steven and Hamish Patrick
Part II: The Current State of Affairs: the English Law of Secured Transactions
12. The English Law of Personal Property Security: Under-reformed?
Louise Gullifer and Magda Raczynska
13. An Uneasy Case of Multiple Tracing Claims in English Law
Magda Raczynska
14. Should Clauses Prohibiting Assignment be Overridden by Statute?
Louise Gullifer
Part III: Modernisation of the Law of Secured Transactions in Selected European Civil Law Jurisdictions
15. The Peculiar Approach of German Law in the Field of Secured Transactions and Why it has worked (So Far)
Moritz Brinkmann
16. Italian Secured Transactions Law: the Need for Reform
Anna Veneziano
17. The Still Uncompleted Evolution of the French Law on Secured Transactions towards Modernity
Jean-Francois Riffard
18. The Belgian Reform on Security Interests in Movable Property
Eric Dirix
19. Secured Transactions Law Reform in Lithuania
Andrius Smaliukas
20. Modernisation of the Law of Secured Transactions in Spain
Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell and Jorge Feliu Rey
Part IV: The Potential Influence of International Legislative Texts on Law Reform
21. The EBRD's Experience in Secured Transactions Reform: How Can Outsiders Help?
Frederique Dahan
22. The United Nations Convention on the Assignment of Receivables in International Trade and Small Businesses
N Orkun Akseli
23. The UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions and the Draft UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions compared
Spyridon V Bazinas
Part V: Conclusions and Recommendations
24. Conclusions and Recommendations
Louise Gullifer