Maritime arrest is a legal action to seize a vessel, cargo,
container or other maritime property as security for a claim or to
enforce a maritime lien. The claim may be brought "in
rem", namely against the arrested property itself and not
necessarily against the property's owner (which may be
unknown). Arrest differs from "attachment" in that the
property itself is not the named party in the action and the
defendant must own the property for it to be subject to attachment.
"Arrest" is literally just that – the vessel
will be prevented from moving or trading pending resolution of the
outstanding claim.
Arrest can be effected under English law, the Arrest Convention
1952, or the Arrest Convention 1969. For the purposes of this note,
I will deal with the position under English law, governed by the
Admiralty Court in London, although the regime is similar in many
jurisdictions under these Conventions.
