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Chapter IV: Property retained or assigned as security.

Article 2367 of the French Civil Code

Ownership of an asset may be retained as security by the effect of a retention of title clause which suspends the translative effect of a contract until full payment of the obligation which constitutes the consideration for it. Ownership thus reserved is the accessory of the claim whose payment it guarantees.

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Article 2370 of the French Civil Code

The incorporation of an item of movable property subject to a retention of title into another item of property does not preclude the creditor’s rights where those items of property can be separated without suffering damage.

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Article 2371 of the French Civil Code

In the absence of full payment on the due date, the creditor may request the return of the property in order to recover the right to dispose of it. The value of the property taken back is set off, by way of payment, against the balance of the secured debt. Where the value of the property taken back exceeds the amount of the secured debt still due, the creditor owes…

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Article 2372 of the French Civil Code

In the event of alienation or loss of the property, ownership is carried over to the debtor’s claim against the sub-purchaser or to the insurance indemnity subrogated to the property. The sub-purchaser or the insurer may then set up against the creditor the defences inherent in the debt as well as defences arising from its relationship with the debtor before it became aware of the carry-over.

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Article 2372-1 of the French Civil Code

Ownership of movable property or a right may be assigned as security for an obligation under a trust agreement entered into pursuant to Articles 2011 to 2030. The secured obligation may be present or future; in the latter case, it must be determinable. By way of derogation from the’article 2029, the death of the natural person settlor does not terminate the trust contract created under this section.

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Article 2372-3 of the French Civil Code

In the absence of payment of the secured debt and unless otherwise stipulated in the trust agreement, the trustee, where it is the creditor, acquires the free disposal of the property or right assigned by way of security. Where the trustee is not the creditor, the creditor may require the trustee to surrender the property, which it may then freely dispose of, or, if the trust agreement so provides, to…

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Article 2372-4 of the French Civil Code

If the beneficiary of the trust has acquired free disposal of the property or right assigned pursuant to Article 2372-3, he shall pay to the settlor, where the value mentioned in the penultimate paragraph of that Article exceeds the amount of the debt secured, a sum equal to the difference between that value and the amount of the debt, subject to prior payment of the debts arising from the conservation…

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