Suit n° HCB/3S/05-06, Union Bank of Cameroon Plc c/ Protion Livestock and ATONGFAC Elias.
High Court of Mezam Décision du 12/06/2012
Security - Mortgage Deed - Parties To A Mortgage - Mortgagor - Dual Contract - Nullity Of Mortgage - Measures Of Execution - Attachment Of Property - Specifications - Contingent Hearing - Declarations And Observations - Guarantor - Personal Guarantee - Indivisibility Of Debtor And Guarantor - Registration Of Company - Legal Status - Juristic Personality - Corporate Status - Executory Formula - Unfounded Declarations - Sale Of Mortgaged Property
Here the court had to decide on the objection against the attachment for sale of the property of ATONGFAC Elias in satisfaction of the creditor. In order to reach its decision, the court had other fundamental issues to grapple with. It had to determine whether the purported debtor and the guarantor were the same or different persons. In order to do so, it had to rule on the legal status of PROLICOM, the purported debtor. The court also had to rule on the validity of the mortgage deed.
Section 46 of the Uniform Act on General Commercial Law states that companies and other corporate bodies referred to in the Uniform Act on Commercial Companies and Ecomomic Interest Groups (UACCEIG) shall apply for registration in the Trade and Personal Property Credit Register (TPPCR), within a month of their creation, to the registry of the court within whose jurisdiction their registered office is located. By virtue of section 98 of UACCEIG, unless otherwise provided by the Uniform Act, all companies shall have a legal personality with effect from the date of registration in the TPPCR. An unregistered business as was the case of PROLICOM is not separate from the owner and so the debtor and the guarantor were the same person.
On the validity of the mortgage deed, the bone of contention was whether the introduction of the third party - borrower/guarantor rendered the deed null. It is a well-known principle of law that there is no nullity without text or that nullity is not presumed. Though a mortgage deed is a dual contract between either the borrower and the lender or the borrower and the guarantor, the introduction of the third party did not offend any section of the law on mortgages, thus the mortgage deed was valid.
As to the objection against the attachment of the property of ATONGFAC Elias, section 127 of the 1997 Uniform Act Organising Securities provides that a contractual mortgage may be granted only by a person who has duly registered rights over the real property and is entitled to dispose of it. An unregistered company lacks a legal personality and cannot own property. In case of any enforcement measure in view of settling a debt contracted for the purpose of the business, the property of its owner can be attached.
Section 9 Ohada Treaty,
Sections 44 And 46 Uagcl,
Sections 98, 854 And 864 Uacceig,
Sections 1, 2 And 127 Uas 1997,
Section 227 Uas 2010,
Sections 170 And 272 Uasrpme
