Introduction to Law

When a thief steals your bike, you may sue the thief in tort and claim damages from him.
The thief will then have a choice to pay damages or to return your bike to you.
It should, finally, be noted that property rights are protected not only by property
law but also by criminal law. The thief and the person who deliberately destroys
someone else’s property are liable to be punished.

5.6.7 The Rule of Accessority

The rule of accessority creates an unbreakable link between a property security
right and the claim for which the right was created, in the twofold sense that

1. the continued existence of the security right depends on the continued existence
   of the personal right that it secures, and


2. if the personal right is transferred from the original creditor to a new creditor, the
   security rights goes with the claim.

This can be illustrated by the sale of a house. Suppose that A buys a house and
needs financing for it. The financing will generally be provided for by a bank or
some other financial institution. The bank and A will enter into a loan agreement,
thereby creating a claim for the repayment of the loan in favor of the bank and
against A. This claim is a personal right, which can only be exercised against A. The
claim can be strengthened by the creation of a property security right. In case of a
house, this will be a right of mortgage (common law) or hypothec (civil law).
The existence of the right of hypothec is connected to the claim of the bank for
repayment. When the loan is repaid, the claim will end and the hypothec or
mortgage will end too. Moreover, when the claim for repayment is transferred to
another bank, the property security right will go with it to the other bank. The
hypothec “follows” the claim from the loan contract. See Fig.5.2.

loan

A Bank

right of hypothec

Acces

sority

Fig. 5.2 Accessority

92 B. Akkermans