Jan 2025 - Scotland - The new Register of Assignations
Scotland - The new Register of Assignations
On 1st April 2025, all sections of the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023 come into force. “Moveable” property includes includes personal rights (referred to as “claims” in the Act) like claims to a sum of money, copyrights and other intellectual property which is “incorporeal” and cannot be physically moved. Nevertheless, in legal terminology it still counts as “moveable” property. The Act modernises the law about transferring personal rights or claims.
In terms of the new law, existing as well as future debts can be assigned, generally without the consent of the debtor. Therefore, a business can assign its unpaid invoices to a financial institution in order to raise finance, without notifying every invoiced customer, provided the assignation deed is registered in the new official public register, which will be known as the Register of Assignations. If the deed is registered, and the debtor pays the original creditor in good faith, then the debtor is released form his obligations, and the new creditor can look to the original creditor for payment. This situation can of course be voided by notifying the debtors about the fact the debt has been assigned. The registration of the assignation deed protects the new creditor against bankruptcy r insolvency of the original creditor.
A single registration may cover indefinitely many claims. Suppose company A is selling 1,000 consumer loans to company B. It is also possible to assign all customer invoices arising in the next, say, six months (or any other time period), although, even with registration, nothing passes to the assignee until the claim comes into existence.
Scotland - New edition of commercal leases textbook
"Commercial Leases in Scotland: A Practitioner's Guide"
by Ken Gerber, of Mitchells Roberton. This is a user-friendly guide to Scottish law of leases of commercial property, written for lawyers, surveyors, property managers and investors, with information on corresponding provisions of English law. The 5th edition of this textbook was published in December 2024.
For more details please e-mail to: ksg@mitchells-roberton.co.uk
Scotland - UK Supreme Court rejects two Acts of Scottish Parliament to be non valid
Judges at the UK Supreme Court have ruled that provisions in two bills passed byteh Scottish Parliament were beyond that Parliament's powers.
Scottish Parliament unanimously backed the bills - which enshrine treaties on children's rights and local government in Scots law.
However after a challenge from UK law officers, judges said the legislation could affect Westminster's ability to make laws for Scotland.
The bills will now go back to the Scottish Pailiament to be reconsidered and amended , with the Scottish government saying it is committed to bringing them into law "at the earliest possible opportunity".
Opposition parties backed this, but accused Scottish ministers of playing "cynical political games" over the issue.
The challenge concerned two bills passed in the closing days of the previous parliamentary session, which both aimed to incorporate aspects of international treaties into Scots law.
- The first was the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Scottish government said would set a legal requirement for public authorities to comply with international standards on children's rights.
- The second was the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which was put forward by former independent MSP Andy Wightman.
Neither bill was controversial at Holyrood, and both were passed unanimously by MSPs. However, the UK government did raise concerns about them, and submitted a challenge to the Supreme Court claiming they were beyond the remit of the devolved parliament.
UK law officers insisted the challenge was not based on the substance of the legislation - the UK government signed up to both of the treaties in question in the 1990s and says it is "deeply committed" to protecting children's rights - but on its potential impact.
Their submission to the court said the standards set by the bills could be applied to laws passed at Westminster as well as Holyrood - meaning the Scottish courts would have "extensive powers to interpret and scrutinise primary legislation passed by the sovereign UK parliament".
Bankruptcy and Personal Insolvency - Cross Border Asset Recovery and Enforcement
Bankruptcy and Personal Insolvency - Cross Border Asset Recovery and Enforcement -
Please click the following link to access the presentation by Clark Hill Solicitors:
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