Cite as: 503 U. S. 393 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
Title 11 U. S. C. § 101(54) (1988 ed., Supp. II) 4 defines "transfer" to mean
"every mode, direct or indirect, absolute or conditional, voluntary or involuntary, of disposing of or parting with property or with an interest in property, including retention of title as a security interest and foreclosure of the debtor's equity of redemption."
Section 547(e) provides further guidance on the meaning and dating of a transfer. For purposes of § 547, it provides
"[(e)(1)](B) a transfer of a fixture or property other than real property is perfected when a creditor on a simple contract cannot acquire a judicial lien that is superior to the interest of the transferee. "[(e)](2) For the purposes of this section, except as provided in paragraph (3) of this subsection, a transfer is made— "(A) at the time such transfer takes effect between the transferor and the transferee, if such transfer is perfected at, or within 10 days after, such time; "(B) at the time such transfer is perfected, if such transfer is perfected after such 10 days . . . ."
Our task, then, is to determine whether, under the definition of transfer provided by § 101(54), and supplemented by § 547(e), the transfer that the trustee seeks to avoid can be said to have occurred before November 20.
"What constitutes a transfer and when it is complete" is a matter of federal law. McKenzie v. Irving Trust Co., 323
4 The definition of transfer was codified in 1986 at 11 U. S. C. § 101(50). In 1990, Congress added eight new definitions to § 101 in two separate Acts, Public Laws 101-311 and 101-647. The addition of the new definitions apparently has resulted in confusion in codifying those definitions, with the result that there are now in the United States Code, Chapter 11, two sections 101(54), one defining "stockbroker" and the second defining "transfer." We will refer to "transfer" as being codified at § 101(54).
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