Mortgage or Hypothec (Hypothèque)

A hypothec (or mortgage) is a real right on a movable or immovable property made liable for the performance of an obligation. It confers on the creditor the right to follow the property into whosever hands it may be, to take possession of it or to take it in payment, or to sell it or cause it to be sold and, in that case, to have a preference upon the proceeds of the sale ranking as determined in the Civil Code. A hypothec is merely an accessory right, and subsists only as long as the obligation whose performance it secures continues to exist. The hypothecary rights conferred by a hypothec may be set up against third persons only when the hypothec is published in accordance with the Civil Code or the Book on Publication of Rights.