Arresting A Ship In Ireland

1. Introduction

The 1952 Arrest Convention ("1952 Convention") was given the force of law in Ireland by the passing of the Jurisdiction of the Courts (Maritime Conventions) Act, 1989 ("the 1989 Act"). The 1989 Act was passed for the purposes of the Convention and left the existing law in relation to ships to which the Convention does not apply unrepealed namely the Courts of Admiralty (Ireland) Acts, 1867 and 1876. We now have a situation in Ireland whereby there is very old legislation governing non Convention ships and relatively recent legislation covering Convention ships.

Ireland operates under a common law system and the law of arrest in Ireland is somewhat similar to the law of arrest in England. By way of background when Ireland implemented the 1952 Convention under the 1989 Act it appendixed the Convention to the Act.