A Bill to make provision about the types of things that are not prevented from being objects of personal property rights.
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Page 1
Source HL Bill 31 Explanatory Notes
21 Clause 1 provides that a thing (including a digital or electronic thing) will not be deprived of legal status as an object of personal property rights merely by reason of the fact that it is neither a thing in action nor a thing in possession. Things that are neither things in action nor things in possession may therefore be recognised as attracting property rights. There may be other reasons, however, why a thing cannot be personal property – such as the thing in question not satisfying the indicia for personal property generally. The effect of this clause is not to say that any and all “things" are property.
22 The draft Bill is not intended to, and deliberately does not, confirm the status of any particular type of thing (including a crypto-tokens) as the object of personal property rights. In particular:
23 These matters are left to development by the common law. Personal property rights are traditionally creatures of common law and have been developed by the courts over hundreds of years. The common law approach has allowed for a highly nuanced and flexible approach which is not possible to achieve in statute. The draft Bill is intended only as means of "unlocking" the development of the common law by removing the uncertainty stemming from Colonial Bank v Whinney, 11 without unduly restricting the way in which it can then respond to technological developments and new types of assets.
24 Although the draft Bill is deliberately agnostic about the characteristics of third category things, it does refer expressly to things that are “digital or electronic in nature" as things that could potentially be capable of attracting property rights despite not necessarily being things in possession or things in action. Although this reference is not necessary in legal terms, it is included for context because digital things such as crypto-tokens are likely to be the main type of thing that users of the law will be concerned with, at least in the short to medium term, and because they were the main impetus for the draft Bill. It is important to note, however, that there is nothing in the draft Bill to restrict its impact to digital things; nor does it mean that any particular kind of digital thing will necessarily be found to be property.
Source HL Bill 31 Explanatory Notes
25 Clause 2(1) sets out the territorial extent of the Bill. The Bill extends to England and Wales.
26 Clause 2(2) makes provision about the coming into force of the Bill. The Bill comes into force at the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which it is passed.
Tabled: 24 Jan 2025
HL Bill 31 Running list of amendments – 24 January 2025
This amendment was WITHDRAWN
Clause 1, page 1, line 2, leave out from first “thing” to second “is”
Type: Backbencher
Signatures: 2
Lord Anderson of Ipswich (XB - Life peer) - 24 Jan 2025Member's explanatory statement
This probing amendment seeks to remove the parenthetical reference to “digital or electronic” things.
Tabled: 24 Jan 2025
HL Bill 31 Running list of amendments – 24 January 2025
This amendment was WITHDRAWN
Clause 1, page 1, line 2, at end insert “and has never been”
Type: Backbencher
Signatures: 2
Lord Anderson of Ipswich (XB - Life peer) - 24 Jan 2025Member's explanatory statement
This probing amendment seeks to give the Bill retrospective effect.
Tabled: 24 Jan 2025
HL Bill 31 Running list of amendments – 24 January 2025
This amendment was WITHDRAWN
Clause 1, page 1, line 5, leave out “a thing in” and insert “capable of”
Type: Backbencher
Signatures: 2
Lord Anderson of Ipswich (XB - Life peer) - 24 Jan 2025Member's explanatory statement
This probing amendment, connected to another in the name of Lord Anderson of Ipswich, seeks to provide a statutory basis for recognising digital assets as property, while removing any presumption that these assets cannot be accommodated by the existing two categories of personal property rights.
Tabled: 24 Jan 2025
HL Bill 31 Running list of amendments – 24 January 2025
This amendment was NOT MOVED
Clause 1, page 1, line 6, leave out paragraph (b) and insert—
“(b) a right that may only be claimed or enforced by legal action or proceedings against another person or persons.”
Type: Backbencher
Signatures: 2
Lord Anderson of Ipswich (XB - Life peer) - 24 Jan 2025Member's explanatory statement
This probing amendment, connected to another in the name of Lord Anderson of Ipswich, seeks to provide a statutory basis for recognising digital assets as property, while removing any presumption that these assets cannot be accommodated by the existing two categories of personal property rights.
Tabled: 24 Jan 2025
HL Bill 31 Running list of amendments – 24 January 2025
This amendment was WITHDRAWN
After Clause 1, insert the following new Clause—
“Attributes of digital assets conferring property rights
In determining whether a digital thing can be the object of personal property rights, regard may be had to whether the thing—
(a) is composed of data represented in an electronic medium, including in the form of computer code, electronic, digital or analogue signals,
(b) exists independently of persons and exists independently of the legal system, and
(c) is rivalrous.”
Type: Backbencher
Signatures: 2
Lord Anderson of Ipswich (XB - Life peer) - 24 Jan 2025Member's explanatory statement
This probing amendment seeks to specify indicia that may be considered by the courts when determining whether digital things can be the object of personal property rights.
Tabled: 29 Jan 2025
HL Bill 31 Running list of amendments – 29 January 2025
This amendment was WITHDRAWN
After Clause 1, insert the following new Clause—
“Review: impact of any digital assets being treated as property by virtue of this Act
(1) Within six months of the day on which this Act is passed, the Secretary of State must lay before both Houses of Parliament a review analysing the impacts of this Act.
(2) The review made under subsection (1) must include analysis of the impact of any digital assets being treated as property by virtue of this Act on—
(a) data centre power usage in relation to digital assets,
(b) the need for data centre construction and expansion,
(c) the viability of creating a government digital sovereign gilt,
(d) the desirability of establishing an objective for the National Wealth Fund relating to tokenisation opportunities,
(e) the need for further regulation of stablecoins and tokenised deposits,
(f) the need for international interoperability standards for digital bonds, and
(g) the need for a review of the tax regime to assess how it interacts with digital assets.”
Type: Backbencher
Signatures: 1
Lord Holmes of Richmond (Con - Life peer) - 29 Jan 2025
Tabled: 20 Jan 2025
HL Bill 31 Running list of amendments – 20 January 2025
This amendment was AGREED
Clause 2, page 1, line 8, leave out “only” and insert “and Northern Ireland”
Type: Backbencher
Signatures: 1
Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab - Life peer) - 20 Jan 2025Member's explanatory statement
This amendment extends the territorial extent of the Bill so that it will form part of the law of Northern Ireland as well as that of England and Wales.
Tabled: 24 Jan 2025
HL Bill 31 Running list of amendments – 24 January 2025
This amendment was NOT MOVED
Clause 2, page 1, line 10, leave out “(Digital Assets etc)” and insert “(Objects of Personal Property Rights)”
Type: Backbencher
Signatures: 2
Lord Anderson of Ipswich (XB - Life peer) - 24 Jan 2025Member's explanatory statement
This probing amendment to the short title, connected to another in the name of Lord Anderson of Ipswich, seeks to restate the title of the Bill by removing reference to specific types of thing which the Bill applies to.
Tabled: 24 Jan 2025
HL Bill 31 Running list of amendments – 24 January 2025
This amendment was NOT MOVED
Title, line 1, after “provision” insert “(with retrospective effect)”
Type: Backbencher
Signatures: 2
Lord Anderson of Ipswich (XB - Life peer) - 24 Jan 2025Member's explanatory statement
This probing amendment, connected to another in the name of Lord Anderson of Ipswich, seeks to draw attention to the Bill’s retrospective effect, if amended.
Tabled: 24 Jan 2025
HL Bill 31 Running list of amendments – 24 January 2025
This amendment was WITHDRAWN
Title, line 1, leave out “capable of” and insert “not prevented from”
Type: Backbencher
Signatures: 2
Lord Anderson of Ipswich (XB - Life peer) - 24 Jan 2025Member's explanatory statement
This probing amendment seeks to restate the long title more clearly, so that it is consistent with the operative clause of the Bill.