41. It is the third characteristic which is the hallmark of a floating charge and serves to distinguish it from a fixed charge. 42. In most jurisdictions, a floating charge is only vulnerable to the extent that it does not secure new money for the company. 43. A purported pledge may be recharacterised as a floating charge in some circumstances, which in turn may be void for want of registration. 44. For such a catastrophe as has occurred in this case some would blame the law that allows the creation of a floating charge . 45. Difficulties with the Bills of Sale Acts in Ireland, England and Wales have made it virtually impossible for individuals to create floating charges . 46. To answer it their Lordships must examine the nature of a floating charge and ascertain the features which distinguish it from a fixed charge. 47. This conversion of the floating charge into a fixed charge ( called " crystallisation " ) can be triggered by a number of events. 48. After funds are taken away to pay all preferential groups and the holder of a floating charge , the remaining money due to unsecured creditors. 49. But the object at this stage of the process is not to discover whether the parties intended to create a fixed or a floating charge . 50. They are the " foregoing debts " which are given priority over the floating charge : see section 319 ( 5 ) ( b ).
