The rapid growth of the securitization market was a primary factor in the 2008 global financial crisis. This article explores the emergence and explosive growth of asset securitization in the period leading up to the recent crisis. Understanding this basic and pressing issue is vital for future...

We examine the desirability of granting "safe harbor" provisions to creditors of financial intermediaries in sale-and-repurchase (repo) contracts. Exemption from an automatic stay in bankruptcy enables financial intermediaries to raise greater liquidity and induces entry of intermediaries with...

In Saulnier v. Royal Bank of Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada held that a fishing license is property for the purposes of both the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the provincial personal property security statutes. The consequences were that: (1) subject to security interests, Saulnier's...

In recent years, U.S. government entities have become increasingly active as commercial participants in corporate restructurings by providing rescue loans when private market funding is unavailable. Like private lenders, the government can effectively control the operations of distressed...

This article closes a gap in the theory of trust law by supplying a normative account of the use of trusts to avoid and subvert other legal norms. While the use of trusts to subvert other law has been a major function thereof since the middle ages, a fact acknowledged by jurists, doctrinal and...

One often finds that a person in business puts the title to the family home only in the name of the other spouse, rather than holding it in joint title. The hope is that the house will remain safe from his creditors if he cannot pay his business debts. This can backfire for a variety of reasons,...

Over the course of its multi-decade existence, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA") has been amended to cover many diverse yet related “real estate” subjects. In its present iteration, two provisions — sections 2605(g) and 2609 — deal with mortgage escrow accounts, with...

The rapid rise of cryptocurrencies over the last twenty years has interjected havoc into the staid field of commercial law, one long regulated by the Uniform Commercial Code (“U.C.C.” or “UCC”). Naturally, many individuals and organizations started to count their stash of...

Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code (“Code”), which focuses on the post-petition continuation of pre-petition contractual relations, controls the assumption and rejection of executory contracts and unexpired leases by a trustee or debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) in all bankruptcy cases....

Elder abuse in the United States is all too common, and it is often perpetrated by family members as well as trusted professionals such as attorneys or financial planners. Financial exploitation of elders often goes unreported. This paper investigates the victim and offender characteristics of...