| Maritime procedure is different from common civil procedure and preservation of maritime claims plays an important role in it. The enacting of maritime procedure law has further improved the arrest system of seagoing ships and eliminated some weaknesses in the legislation of the attachment of the cargo. With the fast development of the shipping industry, however, there are many difficulties about the enforcement of the present laws in practice.Based on Chinese legislation on preservation of maritime claims and using for reference international conventions, foreign legislation and legislation precedent in Chinese Taibei , this author makes a primary study to the legal problems in the practice of preservation of maritime claims.The following are the author's main concerns.(1) On the definition of preservation of maritime claims. The author thinks that the nature of preservation of maritime claims is preservation of property based on maritime claims. Therefore, it is closely similar to but at the same time different from common property preservation.(2) On the jurisdiction of preservation of maritime claims. The author studies the territorial jurisdiction of preservation of maritime claims before instituting an action and its corresponding substantive claims and proposes that the creditor's right to choose a preferable place be reasonably limited and the jurisdiction of preservation of maritime claims be conditionally enlarged so as to achieve equity between the creditor and the debtor.(3) On the application, security and claim procedure of preservation of maritime claims. The author analyzed the problems regarding the reasons of application, the amount of preserved object, the amount of security, the provision, time and amount of countersecurity, the determination of wrongful application and corresponding damage compensation procedure etc. The author maintains that criteria and conditions of countersecurity should be clarified by law and the determination of amount and time should be both reasonable and efficient.(4) On the problem of "active" arrest of a vessel. The author studies the equity of active arrest, its transferability to arrest and the relationship with reduplicated arrest. The author thinks that it is necessary to specify the conditions and applicable range of active arrest and that under certain conditions active arrest can be transferred to arrest and reduplicated arrest should be allowed by law so that other creditors' right can be protected while the ship is already under active arrest, thus the equality of laws can be realized.(5) On the identification of the ship operator's legal status. The author studiesthe qualified person against whom a claim is made through ascertaining and clarifying his legal status. The author also researches a special operation mode, namely, the reputed ownership.(6) On the identification of relevant corporation and the negation of corporate personality. The author maintains that the shipping corporations in China should attach more importance to the problem of relevant corporation, that corporate personality can be negated under certain conditions to make sure the controlling corporation assume its liability to its creditors, thus strengthening the protection for the creditors. The author also holds that procedure law should be consistent with substantive law and only if problems such as the qualified subject and burden of adducing evidence etc. are clarified, equity can be really achieved.(7) On the meaning of cargos carried by ship. The author thinks that cargos carried by ship should be defined as goods that are during its transportation, i.e. goods delivered to the carrier by the shipper but not yet delivered by the carrier. It is reasonable to apply for attachment before the cargo is delivered and still under the carrier's control. If attachment of cargo carried by ships is done in the port of discharge, the owner of cargo often take advantage of making some false contracts and thus makes the maritime claimant unlikely to make...
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