4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you, everybody, for your comments. For lack of sound evidence that "security interest" is a valid alternative translation, I will stick with "right in rem", as it appears to be the most technically correct translation. However, in support of "security interest" and in case it is of interest to anyone researching this topic, I have found the following in a book called "Legal Problems of Credit and Security" by Roy Goode, 3rd ed., London, 2003 (in Google Books): "Even where the creditor is to be given rights in respect of an asset, it is necessary to distinguish real rights from personal rights. A real right is a right in an asset (right in rem)* as opposed to a personal right to an asset (right ad rem). A personal claim to delivery or transfer of an asset does not survive the debtor's bankruptcy but becomes converted into a right to prove for a dividend in the debtor's estate in competition with other creditors. By contrast a security interest is a right in rem and in principle the secured creditor is entitled to remove the asset from the general body of creditors. (Footnote: *More accurately, a particular type of right in rem […].)" And also: "A security interest is a real right in the asset given in security." "