I wouldn't get wrapped up in the "who would take it question"? I think there are a lot of situations, especially involving sperm where it would be quite valuable.

How about the sperm of an olympic gold medalist? Certainly, the owners of those travelling human body exhibits, like Body Works, might be able to use the body part exhibits as collateral for bridge loans. It seems to be a productive enterprise raking in millions of pounds a year in admission fees.

And, maybe the folks at UCL would be very interested in using Jeremy Bentham's head as collateral, if they ever fall into hard times.

I agree with Lionel. My sense is that the PPA would permit these items to be the subject of a security interest. The PPA question is really one of whether it's property. If the common law regards it as property, then the PPA should as well.

How this, though: Wouldn't this also mean that human tissue could be the corpus of a trust? Are the UCL Council trustees of Jeremy Bentham's head?


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Matthew P. Harrington
Professeur titulaire

Faculté de droit
Université de Montréal
3101 chemin de la Tour
Montréal, Québec H3T 1J7
514.343.6105
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________________________________
From: Angela Swan [aswan@airdberlis.com]
Sent: June 11, 2014 4:02 PM
To: 'Lionel Smith, Prof.'; obligations@uwo.ca; keith.rowley@unlv.edu
Subject: RE: ODG: Human Tissue is Property in Canada

If frozen semen can be a “good” I'm sure that a security interest could be taken in it — though I find it hard to imagine circumstances in which a lender would do that, except perhaps as an incident of a General Security Agreement — and those aren’t usually given by individuals.

Angela

From: Lionel Smith, Prof. [mailto:lionel.smith@mcgill.ca]
Sent: June-11-14 3:50 PM
To: obligations@uwo.ca; keith.rowley@unlv.edu
Subject: Re: ODG: Human Tissue is Property in Canada

I think the Canadian PPSA's would simply follow the general law. That is, if it counts as personal property, you can give a security interest in it. The PPSA's are not in the business of saying what counts as personal property.
Lionel


From: Andrew Tettenborn <a.m.tettenborn@swansea.ac.uk<mailto:a.m.tettenborn@swansea.ac.uk>>
Date: Wednesday, 11 June 2014 at 15:43
To: Jason Neyers <jneyers@uwo.ca<mailto:jneyers@uwo.ca>>, ODG <obligations@uwo.ca<mailto:obligations@uwo.ca>>, "keith.rowley@unlv.edu<mailto:keith.rowley@unlv.edu>" <keith.rowley@unlv.edu<mailto:keith.rowley@unlv.edu>>
Subject: Re: ODG: Human Tissue is Property in Canada

What lender in its senses would want to take it? Unless it's something v odd like a lock of Napoleon's hair, it's hardly saleable on default.

Andrew
On 11/06/2014 20:28, Jason Neyers wrote:
On behalf of Keith Rowley:
I'm curious, in light of this discussion (and my idiosyncratic fascination with the legal issues raised by films like Repo Men and The Island), whether there is any statutory, regulatory, or case law addressing whether the Canadian PPSA -- or its counterparts in England, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, or any other ODG-er jurisdiction -- allows consensual personal property security interests in human tissue or human biological materials.

Keith



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Jason Neyers

Professor of Law

Faculty of Law

Western University

N6A 3K7

(519) 661-2111 x. 88435

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Andrew Tettenborn
Professor of Commercial Law, Swansea University

School of Law, University of Swansea
Richard Price Building
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SWANSEA SA2 8PP
Phone 01792-295831 / (int) +44-1792-295831
Fax 01792-295855 / (int) +44-1792-295855

Andrew Tettenborn
Athro yn y Gyfraith Fasnachol, Prifysgol Abertawe

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Lawyer (n): One versed in circumvention of the law (Ambrose Bierce)






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