Personal Security

A creditor who made a loan to a debtor but does not have full confidence into the ability or willingness of the debtor to repay the loan fully and punctually, has two main options for securing his loan capital: He either can demand that the debtor gives him real security by encumbering one or several of his assets. Or he suggests to the debtor to win over a third party to act as a guarantor and to assume joint liability for repayment of the loan.

Such a form of personal security by means of a bond has been known for centuries. During the last decades, however, a number of other models for providing personal security for loans have been developed, in particular the guarantee, by now widely used in commerce.

Within the framework of plans of the Commission of the European Union to work out a uniform "framework of reference" for contract law, a multinational work group of the Study Group on a European Civil Code prepared proposals for uniform rules on personal security models. The proposals are based on legal developments formulated in the member states in the last decades and present draft uniform rules for the two basic types, viz. the dependent and the independent personal security for loans. Each proposal not only is accompanied by explanations but the legal situation in each of the 15 old member states is sketched also.

The work therefore is not only a presentation of a future model for European rules to come but provides also a fairly detailed indication of the present legal situation in the member states.