The return of personal belongings has the potential to anchor the lofty rhetoric of historical justice in people’s everyday material realities. However, in the case of the Chinese government’s efforts to return belongings seized by Red Guards in the house raids of 1966 it is necessary to separate the history of restitution from the politics of history to understand how one relates to the other. This chapter analyzes the structure put in place by the Shanghai Revolutionary Committee, on orders of the Chinese Communist Party, to begin returning possessions less than a year after the house raids. By reassembling documents that have survived from this process, it shows that the scope of early restitution, which occurred when the Chinese Communist Party was still affirming the actions of the Red Guards, was far more important than has previously been assumed. In fact, the policy of restitution went through not one but two moments of transition: the first when the Cultural Revolution entered its corrective phase and the second when the post-Mao leadership declared the house raids illegal. Each moment saw an expansion of restitution informed by a shift in how the Chinese state defined entitlement and membership in the political community. It is important to avoid interpreting early restitution through the explanatory framework that emerged after Mao’s death not only because it distorts the facts and motivations of the earlier process, but also because the separation of the two allows for a better understanding of both, and in particular of how restitution became, in the end, concrete proof of what it meant to come to terms with the Cultural Revolution.

This chapter covers personal property, which is a broad category and a developing one. It is the most important type of property today in the commercial world, partly because of its breadth. The chapter starts by placing personal property in the wider area of property, distinguishing it from land or interests in land. Whether something is land or personal property can have important consequences for its ownership, or security interests over it. We will also examine the test applied to decide whether something that was goods has become a ‘fixture’, and thus part of the land. Second, we will look at the usual classifications within personal property, which have legal consequences. Possession, and its acquisition or loss, plays a crucial role when considering ownership of personal property. Lastly, what can be done when a holder’s rights in personal property are interfered with? We will look at the main remedies available to enforce those rights.

In this chapter, we will be looking at what a ‘security’ or a ‘security interest’ is, as it affects both real and personal property.

This chapter is designed for those studying property law and is a general overview of the law relating to the creation of property interests in both real and personal property by way of the use of a security.

This chapter is broken down into both general and specific topics. There is an overview to understand what securities are, and then the chapter considers in more detail those securities that affect real property (e.g. a mortgage given by a bank to a purchaser to allow the purchaser to buy real estate); and securities over personal property, (e.g. a loan by a lender to a farmer to buy a pivot irrigator that will provide water to the farmer’s crops).

Securities in relation to real land is dealt with by a myriad of Torrens legislation and property law statutes which are, for the most part, similar in each jurisdiction. Securities in relation to certain personal property is generally dealt with by federal law pursuant to the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth).

This chapter examines the system for creation and enforcement of security interests over personal property. It considers the operation of the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) (PPSA), examining: (1) the Act’s purpose and overall design; (2) the definition of security interests; (3) the kinds of security interests it governs; (4) what constitutes the taking of good security – including explanation of the concepts of attachment and perfection of interests; (5) the extinguishment rules; (6) the fate of certain proprietary interests, such as fixed and floating charges under the Act; and (7) the principles and rules of priority of interests as they operate under the Act. The chapter also examines how the Act approaches the recognition of a security interest as a matter of substance rather than form. Emerging PPSA law cases are referred to where appropriate.

This chapter addresses the topic of personal property. It first addresses the fundamental notion of property. It then explores how the scope of personal property has become more expansive as novel challenges to existing notions of property have arisen over time. The chapter considers the important distinction between real property and personal property. Sub-classifications of personal property are considered, including the distinction between chattels real and personal, choses in action and choses in possession. The chapter explores various types of possession and interference with possession giving rise to actions for trespass, conversion and detinue. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how the nature of personal property rights can be lost through intermixture, accession or by becoming a fixture.