In re Yorkshire Woolcombers Association Ltd: ChD 1903

Farwell J said: ‘A charge on all book debts which may now be, or at any time hereafter become charged or assigned, leaving the mortgagor or assignor free to deal with them as he pleases until the mortgagee or assignee intervenes, is not a specific charge, and cannot be. The very essence of a specific charge is that the assignee takes possession, and is the person entitled to receive the book debts at once. So long as he licenses the mortgagor to go on receiving the book debts and carry on the business, it is within the exact definition of a floating security.’

Farwell J
[1903] 2 Ch 284
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal fromIn re Yorkshire Woolcombers Association Ltd CA 2-Jan-1903
Nature of Company’s Debenture Charge
The court considered the nature of a debenture charge. Romer LJ said: ‘I certainly do not intend to attempt to give an exact definition of the term ‘floating charge’, nor am I prepared to say that there will not be a floating charge within the . .
CitedNational Westminster Bank Plc v Spectrum Plus Ltd and others ChD 15-Jan-2004
The company granted a debenture to the claimant purporting to secure its book debts. The company went into liquidation. The liquidator challenged the bank’s charge.
Held: Siebe was wrongly decided. The charge was ineffective over the book . .
CitedIn Re Westmaze Ltd (In Administrative Receivership) ChD 15-May-1998
Westmaze were mechanical engineers. They gave a charge to secure borrowings, which described itself as a fixed charge.
Held: A Charge over a company’s book and trading assets was in fact floating even though described as a fixed charge unless . .
At First InstanceIllingworth v Houldsworth HL 1904
A clause in a floating charge allowing a company to continue to trade in the assets charged: ‘contemplates not only that it should carry with it the book debts which were then existing, but it contemplates also the possibility of those book debts . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Banking, Company

Updated: 19 November 2021; Ref: scu.191953