On The Application Of Law In The Priority Of Ships

The maritime lien system is an important part of the real right system, while the maritime lien system is the most disputable area in ship real right system. In china, there are few works to study this subject deeply and systematically. The purpose of this paper is to research how to choose the applicable law correctly and reasonably in the field of the maritime lien. It points out that the situation will be changed due to this research work and China’s maritime legislation could benefit from it.In this paper, it outlines the maritime lien system. The natures of maritime liens are fundamental to understand the performing of the maritime lien. Maritime lien is regarded as real right for security in nature in most countries, but in contrary, in particular country it is treated as special effect of credit. The paper also elaborates the origin and development of maritime lien, in the hope that the content and actual value would be realized more clearly due to the employment of history and contrast methods.This paper discusses the legislative intentions embodied in each conflict rule, on the basis of analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of each way of applying law. It is improper to stipulate lex fori as the applicable law in the china Maritime Code since applicable law of maritime lien is very complicated. The author thinks the law of flag is better than the lex fori.In addition, this paper points out the weakness in the concerned regulations in the legislation of our state, and poses some proposals to consummate the relevant stipulations in the applicable law of maritime liens. It suggests that it is better to stipulate the law of flag as the applicable law and stipulate lex fori as the exception in certain circumstance.