Secured Transactions Law Reform: Principles, Policies and Practice has recently been published by Hart Publishing (Bloomsbury). The book grew out of two conferences held by the Secured Transactions Law Reform Project in 2014, and the book was written and edited under the auspices of the project.

Secured transactions law has been and continues to be subjected to close scrutiny globally. 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.

The 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, written by world renowned experts from many countries.

The book, edited by Professor Louise Gullifer, Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Oxford Law Faculty and Dr Orkun Akseli, Senior Lecturer in Commercial Law at Durham University Law School, reflects the attention paid by the project to secured transaction reform in other jurisdictions. It is intended that the book should be the first in a series reflecting the ongoing reform initiatives around the world.

More details of the book can be found on the publisher’s website.