Les droits réels et personnels sur les titres détenus auprès d'un intermédiaire : analyse comparative en droit québécois interne et international privé

Transactions in securities and security interest, and their implementation are far beyond national borders. They involve a multitude of players, such as the issuer, a large number of intermediaries arranged in a pyramid structure, investors, and obviously the beneficiaries of the securities or the security interest. You will also find diversified portfolios containing several securities issuers, from different countries. The difficulty of such a diversity of actors, and financial and legal components, lies in the application of divergent, and often conflicting, rules from legal systems of different origin (common law and civil law). Many jurists, of different nationalities, have found out, in the recent years that the rules creating the enforceability and enforcement of security interest, and the rules of conflict of laws, that helped determine the law applicable to these questions, were no longer responding to national legal requirements in relation with and exponential global financial market, which lack real administrative borders.  To address this situation and accommodate the financial market, many regulations have been revised and adapted. Reasons why we have decided to proceed to the analysis of the applicable Quebec’s regulations, in comparison with the Swiss law, which is closest to the Quebec civil law tradition, the American law and the Canadian law, main inspiration of our commercial laws and regulations. Said analysis is also realized in light of the 36th  Hague Convention of 5 July 2006 on the Law Applicable to Certain Rights in Respect of Securities held with an Intermediary. As per example, articles 8 and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) have proposed modern and revolutionary solutions that are dramatically different from the traditional rules related to ownership, property, security interest and conflict of laws. Other legal instruments, specifically dedicated to these issues were also suggested or adopted. This is the case of the Uniform Law on the transfer of securities (USTA), which was incorporated in the Quebec commercial laws and regulations, more particularly in An act Respecting the Transfer of Securities and the Establishment of Security Entitlements, RLRQ c. T-11.00 (LTVMQ); the 36th  Hague Convention of 5 July 2006 on the Law Applicable to Certain Rights in Respect of Securities held with an Intermediary; the Swiss Federal Act on Private International Law (CPIL) and the Swiss Federal Act on intermediated securities (LTI). The analysis of these laws and regulations has led to the proposal of a new version of the rules of conflict of laws dealing with security interests and transferring intermediated securities under Quebec law.  The goal of this study is to provoke, from the perspective of a civil lawyer, a deep reflection on the effectiveness of the, totally inspired by American common law, new Quebec’s rules on security interest and conflict of laws in matters of security entitlements. A choice that seems completely ignores a section of our civil legal system.

Keyphrases: Commerce international, Security interest, Hypothec, Pledge, Conflict of laws, International private law, Comparative law, Financial law, Indirectly held security, International business, Property law