General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3184 |
| Course name: | Credit and Security Law |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | Commercial, corporate and financial law |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | Not applicable |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
This course will examine how, money having been raised by borrowing, a lender may use certain basic devices to secure the borrower’s debt obligations by providing for alternative means of recouping any sums left unpaid by the borrower.
One way of grouping the typical forms of security devices used in commercial dealings is to divide them into the “real securities”, and “quasi-securities”. Real securities are usually said to include the lien, the pledge, the mortgage, and the charge. On the other hand, quasi-securities include guarantees, indemnities, rights of set-off, sales and repurchase, retention of title transactions, and hire-purchase.
Each of these forms of dealing which provide a lender with security effects can be applied to corporate borrowers, as well as non-corporate borrowers, at least in theory. However, in practice, certain restrictions (such as registration requirements) mean that certain kinds of security are more commonly encountered in connection with corporate borrowers, as opposed to the ordinary man in the street. For example, whereas “floating charges” over such assets as a corporate borrower may own from time to time are not unusual, the same is not true for non-corporate borrowers. This is because of the differences in the registration requirements for such security devices when applied to corporate, as opposed to non-corporate borrowers.
Given the compressed duration of this course, it will focus primarily on the four “traditional” forms of real security. Contrasts will be drawn with quasi-securities where appropriate, but the treatment of quasi-securities will be comparatively brief and introductory. The goal will be to understand how these traditional forms of real security are created, and to understand why a lender might prefer one form of real security over another.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Chee Ho Tam | TBA | TBA | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
To be advised by the convenor.
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation | TBC | 20% | ||
| MId-term exam | TBC | 30% | ||
| Final exam | TBC | 50% |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar | 3-hour seminars in an intensive mode in March / April 2025 |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/