THE UNCHANGING “DEBENTURE”

Extract

THE English Court of Appeal in Fons Hf v Corporal Ltd. [2014] EWCA Civ 304 has recently confirmed that the phrase “debenture” when used in a charge agreement should be given its ordinary wide meaning. Some caution should be attached to this holding. Although the word “debenture” commonly appears in legislation or in private contractual documents, the precise meaning that should be ascribed to the word varies with the context. But, if the decision in Fons can be taken as laying down a general definition of “debenture”, then it seems that any contract or legislative drafter seeking to give it a narrower meaning would have to provide specifically for that.