The Legal System Of Arrest Of Ships In Global View And The Analysis Of The System In China

This paper focuses, at first, on the systematic value of the arrest of ships, as well as the fact that there are conflicts in the arrest of ships among various jurisdictions. In the light of the comparison between different laws, the author analyses the ship arresting legislation, esp. the legislation of China.Application for the vessel's arrest may be in the basis of two kinds of maritime claims, which are the maritime claims secured by maritime lien or other bail, and the maritime claims without such security. The development of international convention on maritime lien caused, as one reason, the interest on the unity of international laws on arrest of ships.The arrest of ships has three possible functions. Firstly, it's a form of interim relief or provisional remedy. Secondly, it may operate as a ground of jurisdiction over the merits. Thirdly, it may provide security for the claim on the merit. The difference on the functions of arrest of ships between jurisdictions leads different legal systems, and hinders the unity of international laws.The author analysis the legal conflicts on arrest of ships and focuses on the key question—which ship is available to be arrest? The paper seeks the fact of maritime claims, through the comparison of different scale of maritime claims in many states. The maritime claims shall be proved by evidence and the prime facie rule should be introduced to Chinese legislation.To answer the above question, the author expounds the arrest of the ships in respect of which the maritime claim arose, sister ships, and associated ships. Those problems and respective Chinese law are analyzed in a civil law view,...