Part IV Priorities, 13 General Priority Rule: Nemo Dat (First in Time to be Created Wins)
From: The Law of Security and Title-Based Financing (3rd Edition)
Hugh Beale, Michael Bridge, Louise Gullifer, Eva Lomnicka
- Subject(s):
- Guarantees and security
This chapter explains how the basic principle of priority between all kinds of interest is that of nemo dat quod non habet. In the context of priority disputes this is often referred to as the principle that the first in time to be created wins. There are various justifications for this rule in addition to longevity. First, there is the intuitive idea that one cannot give what one has not got. If one owns an asset and gives it to another, one no longer owns it and has nothing to give to someone else. Second, one can argue that if the basic rule were not first in time, parties would normally so arrange their affairs in any case so that priorities, at least between security interests, operated on this basis.
