With banking agencies' preference of real estate mortgage, the collateral security in the domestic Civil Code has been used as a means of securing the specified credit which is originated from the initial contract of monetary loan, the unspecified cre...
With banking agencies' preference of real estate mortgage, the collateral security in the domestic Civil Code has been used as a means of securing the specified credit which is originated from the initial contract of monetary loan, the unspecified credit which is generated from the contract of continuous transaction, and other credits of which basic contract is not specified. In particular, it is an undeniable fact that the collateral security has been used in favor of mortgagees. This practice of financial transaction has caused numerous side effects.
This study tried to present more balanced explanatory and legislative theories for the collateral security which has been developed focusing on creditors. For this, the investigator examined the enactment process of Article 357 of the domestic Civil Code, together with the collateral security of the Manchurian National Law that was the origin of domestic collateral security-related provisions, German Höchstbetragshypothek, and Japanese collateral security. The domestic provision of collateral security has derived from the Manchurian National Law, but the Manchurian National Law was enacted by making reference to Japanese theories and judicial precedents and the German Civil Act at that time. Therefore, it is necessary to refer to Japanese explanatory theories and German Höchstbetragshypothek in the explanation of collateral security of the current domestic Civil Code. However, since now Höchstbetragshypothek is almost not used in Germany, it seems to be desirable to make reference not to the explanatory theory of German Höchstbetragshypothek but to the provisions of Japanese collateral security in presenting the improvement direction of collateral security for the domestic Civil Code. Especially, because Japan uses mortgage and collateral security as real estate mortgage and the provision of domestic collateral security has derived from the practices in the period of old civil code, Japanese collateral security can be an improvement guidance for the provision of domestic collateral security. In addition, Japanese collateral security has such characteristics as prohibiting all-inclusive collateral security, allowing the settlement of mortgage in specified credits, such as housing mortgage loans, and preventing the disputes of the said parties in advance by establishing detailed provisions for collateral security. However, the domestic Civil Code allows the settlement of collateral security even in specified credits, admits all-inclusive collateral security in the limited scope, and depends on theories and judicial precedents for the solution of the disputes of collateral security.
In order to establish a desirable practice of loan by taking into account the fact that the domestic collateral security has been operated focusing on creditors all the while, it is undesirable to approve the settlement of mortgage in specified credits and allow all-inclusive collateral security limitlessly.
Therefore, the explanatory theory of collateral security in this study was composed as follows: The collateral security has been enacted to secure unspecified various credits, which could be increased or decreased in the future, at a settlement term and therefore it seems to be not able to secure the credit which is generated from a one-time contract of monetary loan that has no such a basic contract as a continuous monetary loan contract. And this logic can be fully extracted from the explanation of the Clause 1 of Article 357 of the Civil Code. In other words, the collateral security means to set 'maximal amount' and 'reserve the confirmation of credit for the future', but specified credits are not the credits of which confirmation is not reserved for the future. On the other hand, when the collateral security is once confirmed, it is no longer possible to secure newly generated credits. In this vein, the confirmed collateral security seems to be converted into ordinary mortgage. However, the conversion into ordinary mortgage does not only mean the fact that it cannot secure newly generated credits. It rather means that the confirmed collateral security is changed into ordinary mortgage completely. Again, when the collateral security is once confirmed, the confirmation of credit is not reserved for the future. In this vein, it must be viewed as an ordinary credit. Therefore, the provisory clause of Article 360 of the Civil Code about ordinary mortgage is not applied when the collateral security continues. But when the collateral security is once confirmed and converted into an ordinary credit, delay compensation is limited in a year's amount and the Article-oriented execution expenses are also confirmed, thus being secured by the converted ordinary mortgage. On the other hand, regarding all-inclusive collateral security, a variety of problems are raised, but it seems to be difficult to regulate with the current explanatory theories of the Civil Code. In this vein, it is necessary to supplement it legislatively.
The investigator fully agrees with the necessity of legislation for the detailed provision of collateral security. In particular, according to the revised bill in 2010, the Civil Code newly established 9 collateral security-related provisions from the Clause 2 to 10 of Article 357. These new provisions are expected to play the role of settling down the disputes between the said parties to some degree. However, following problems remain as before: First, since it has no provision of which aim is to prohibit the all-inclusive collateral security, different from the revised Civil Code in 2004, it seems to be inevitable to adopt the explanatory theories of the current Civil Code into the all-inclusive collateral security. Second, since both the revised Civil Code in 2004 and the revised bill in 2010 have no provision of which aim is to deny the settlement of collateral security in specified credits, it is possible to criticize that they could not settle down the problem. Third, since the revised bill in 2010 have no provision for the transfer of collateral security, different from the revised Civil Code in 2004, and the problem of the transfer of collateral security is assigned to the explanatory theories, it is necessary to legislatively supplement it as well. Therefore, the discussion on revision and explanatory theories must be developed into the direction of settling down the above problems.
As discussed in this study, it is not too much to say that the security system of real estate has been developed in favor of creditors. For example, one of the reasons why Germany mainly uses land preservation credits is that it is in favor of creditors. In Korea, the security system of real estate has also been developed into the direction that is in favor of creditors, throughout all the courses of proceeding from ordinary mortgage to collateral security and from collateral security to all-inclusive collateral security. In particular, the contract concluded between the person who is going to borrow and the person who is going to lend is not based on the equal standing but the standing of the strong to some degree. In this vein, the security system of real estate has seemingly also been developed into the direction that is advantageous for creditors.
Since the formation of the security system of real estate, which is advantageous for creditors, has resulted in financial agencies' preference of real estate security. So it is not a desirable phenomenon. In addition, even from the aspect of considering the security system of real estate that has been regulated in favor of creditors all the while from the standing of debtors, it is necessary to improve the current collateral security system. In this vein, this study examined the collateral security system from the standings of unspecified credit theories and conversion theories. But as was mentioned above, it cannot be regulated by explanatory theories only.
Recently, the legislative discussion on the collateral security has been active. According to the revised Civil Code in 2004 and the revised bill of the Civil Code in 2010, relatively detailed provisions about the collateral security have been prepared, including not few provisions that are advantageous for debtors. If the revised bill of the Civil Code in 2010 is enacted, at least the problems that are generated from the abstract nature of collateral security-related provisions will decrease to some degree. However, since it has no provisions of which intention is not to allow the settlement of collateral security in specified credits and about all-inclusive collateral security, it seems to imply that disputes on the un-specification of collateral security and the effectiveness of all-inclusive collateral security will continue in the future.