A Research On The Comprison Between The Regimes For Ship's Arrest In China And England

Ship's arrest is one of the most important measures for preservation of maritime claims, and it is worthwhile for research in respect of both theory and practice. The topic itself seems to be out-of-date, nevertheless, with the promulgation of The Maritime Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China in the year of 1999, the regime for ship's arrest in China has stepped into a new era. Some specific questions in the ship's arrest have been adjusted and updated to the time, while some remain controversial and some are left aside. All of these questions should be concerned and the research into the same deemed as essential.China experienced a fairly short history in the regime for ship's arrest. Meanwhile, based on our own maritime judicial practice and that of other countries and international conventions as well, we have established a basically integrated regime for ship's arrest of our own characteristics. England, as a giant in the world's shipping and trading business, has set up an advanced system for the maritime litigation over hundred of years, their regime for ship's arrest is still exercising great influence to both common law countries and civil law countries on the globe. In order to facilitate and develop a better regime for ship's arrest in our country, this article attempts to research on the comparison between the regimes for ship's arrest and the judicial practice in the two countries on a preliminary scale, by concentrating on the relationship and difference of the core items of the regimes for ship's arrest in the two countries, i.e., applications may be made for the arrest of ships, scope of ships that may be arrested, security and counter-security for arrest of ships, wrongful arrest and auction of attached ships etc.The articles falls into four chapters. Chapter One is the fore-words, in which the classification and definition of ship's arrest, and the outline of the regimes for ship's arrest in China, England and relevant international conventions is briefly introduced; Instead of refuting the numerous contentions in China on action in rem and the Mareva Injunction, Chapter Two shows great emphasis on the introduction and comparison on the two subjects via quotations of a large number of original and domestic articles. Especially in the complete introduction of the regime for ship's arrest in England, this articles dwells upon the "sister-ship arrest" and "beneficiary ownership" with specific illustrations. Chapter Three introduces on the whole the regime for ship's arrest, ranging from the nature of the regime, the definition of maritime claims, the scope of arrest, maritime security etc. to the auction of ships under attachment. With comparison to the relevant regimes in England, this article argues with some scholars and puts forward some piecesof ides for stipulations of law making in the future. In this chapter, some popular problems are discussed, for instance, the arrest of ships under a financing-lease contract consumes several pages and finally concludes with a negative answer. The Fourth Chapter leads to an end of this article.