- The High Contracting Parties,
Having recognised the desirability of determining by agreement certain
uniform rules of law relating to the arrest of seagoing ships, have
decided to conclude a convention, for this purpose and thereto have agreed
as follows :-
Article 1
In this Convention the following words shall have the meanings hereby
assigned to them :
- (1) "Maritime Claim" means a claim arising out of one or more of the
following :
(a) damage caused by any ship either in collision or otherwise;
(b) loss of life or personal injury caused by any ship or occurring in
connection with the operation of any ship;
(c) salvage;
(d) agreement relating to the use or hire of any ship whether by
charterparty or otherwise;
(e) agreement relating to the carriage of goods in any ship whether by
charterparty or otherwise;
(f) loss of or damage to goods including baggage carried in any ship;
(g) general average;
(h) bottomry;
(i) towage;
(j) pilotage;
(k) goods or materials wherever supplied to a ship for her operation or
maintenance;
(l) construction, repair or equipment of any ship or dock charges and
dues;
(m) wages of Masters, Officers, or crew;
(n) Master's disbursements, including disbursements made by shippers,
charterers or agents on behalf of a ship or her owner;
(o) disputes as to the title to or ownership of any ship;
(p) disputes between co-owners of any ship as to the ownership, possession
employment or earnings of that ship;
(q) the mortgage or hypothecation of any ship.
- (2) "Arrest" means the detention of a ship by judicial process to
secure a maritime claim, but does not include the seizure of a ship in
execution or satisfaction of a judgment.
- (3) "Person" includes individuals, partnerships, and bodies corporate,
Governments, their Departments and Public Authorities.
- (4) "Claimant" means a person who alleges that a maritime claim exists
in his favour.
Article 2
A ship flying the flag of one of the Contracting States may be arrested in
the jurisdiction of any of the Contracting States in respect of any
maritime claim, but in respect of no other claim; but nothing in this
Convention shall be deemed to extent or restrict any right or powers
vested in any Governments or other Departments, Public Authorities, or
Dock or Harbour Authorities under their existing domestic laws or
regulations to arrest, detain or otherwise prevent the sailing of vessels
within their jurisdiction.
Article 3
(1) Subject to the provisions of para (4) of this Article and of Article
10, a claimant may arrest either the particular ship in respect of which
the maritime claim arose, or any other ship which is owned by the person
who was, at the time when the maritime claim arose, the owner of the
particular ship, even though the ship arrested be ready to sail; but no
ship, other than the particular ship in respect of which the claim arose,
may be arrested in respect of any of the maritime claims enumerated in
Article 1 (1) (o), (p) or (q).
- (2) Ships shall be deemed to be in the same ownership when all the
shares therein are owned by the same person or persons.
- (3) A ship shall not be arrested, nor shall bail or other security be
given more than once in any one or more of the jurisdictions of any of the
Contracting States in respect of the same maritime claim by the same
claimant: and, if a ship has been arrested in any one of such
jurisdictions, or bail or other security has been given in such
jurisdiction either to release the ship or to avoid a threatened arrest,
any subsequent arrest of the ship or of any ship in the same ownership by
the same claimant for the same maritime claim shall be set aside, and the
ship released by the Court or other appropriate judicial authority of that
State, unless the claimant can satisfy the Court or other appropriate
judicial authority that the bail or other security had been finally
released before the subsequent arrest or that there is other good cause
for maintaining that arrest.
- (4) When in the case of a charter by demise of a ship the charterer
and not the registered owner is liable in respect of a maritime claim
relating to that ship, the claimant may arrest such ship or any other ship
in the ownership of the charterer by demise, subject to the provisions of
this Convention, but no other ship in the ownership of the registered
owner shall be liable to arrest in respect of such maritime claims.
- The provisions of this paragraph shall apply to any case in which a
person other than the registered owner of a ship is liable in respect of a
maritime claim relating to that ship.
Article 4
A ship may only be arrested under the authority of a Court or of the
appropriate judicial authority of the Contracting State in which the
arrest is made.
Article 5
The Court or other appropriate judicial authority within whose
jurisdiction the ship has been arrested shall permit the release of the
ship upon sufficient bail or other security being furnished, save in cases
in which a ship has been arrested in respect of any of the maritime claims
enumerated in Article 1(1)(o) and (p). In such cases the Court or other
appropriate judicial authority may permit the person in possession of the
ship to continue trading the ship, upon such person furnishing sufficient
bail or other security, or may otherwise deal with the operation of the
ship during the period of the arrest.
- In default of agreement between the parties as to the sufficiency of
the bail or other security, the Court or other appropriate judicial
authority shall determine the nature and amount thereof.
- The request to release the ship against such security shall not be
construed as an acknowledgment of liability or as a waiver of the benefit
of the legal limitation of liability of the owner of the ship.
Article 6
All questions whether in any case the claimant is liable in damages for
the arrest of a ship or for the costs of the bail or other security
furnished to release or prevent the arrest of a ship, shall be determined
by the law of the Contracting State in whose jurisdiction the arrest was
made or applied for.
- The rules of procedure relating to the arrest of a ship, to the
application for obtaining the authority referred to in Article 4, and to
all matters of procedure which the arrest may entail, shall be governed by
the law of the Contracting State in which the arrest was made or applied
for.
Article 7
(1) The Courts of the country in which the arrest was made shall have
jurisdiction to determine the case upon its merits if the domestic law of
the country in which the arrest is made gives jurisdiction to such Courts,
or in any of the following cases namely :
- (a) if the claimant has his habitual residence or principle place of
business in the country in which the arrest was made;
(b) if the claim arose in the country in which the arrest was made;
(c) if the claim concerns the voyage of the ship during which the arrest
was made;
(d) if the claim arose out of a collision or in circumstances covered by
Article 13 of the International Convention for the unification of certain
rules of law with respect to collisions between vessels, signed at
Brussels on September 23, 1910;
(e) if the claim is for salvage;
(f) if the claim is upon a mortgage or hypothecation of the ship arrested.
- (2) If the Court within whose jurisdiction the ship was arrested has
no jurisdiction to decide upon the merits, the bail or other security
given in accordance with Article 5 to procure the release of the ship
shall specifically provide that it is given as security for the
satisfaction of any judgment which may eventually be pronounced by a Court
having jurisdiction so to decide; and the Court or other appropriate
judicial authority of the country in which the arrest is made shall fix
the time within which the claimant shall bring an action before a Court
having such jurisdiction.
- (3) If the parties have agreed to submit the dispute to the
jurisdiction of a particular Court other than within whose jurisdiction
the arrest was made or to arbitration, the Court or other appropriate
judicial authority within whose jurisdiction the arrest was made may fix
the time within which the claimant shall bring proceedings.
- (4) If, in any of the cases mentioned in the two proceeding
paragraphs, the action or proceedings are not brought within the time so
fixed, the defendant may apply for the release of the ship or of the bail
or other security.
- (5) This article shall not apply in cases covered by the provisions of
the revised Rhine Navigation Convention of October 17, 1868.
Article 8
(1) The provisions of this Convention shall apply to any vessel flying the
flag of a Contracting State in the jurisdiction of any Contracting State.
- (2) A ship flying the flag of a non-Contracting State may be arrested
in the jurisdiction of any Contracting State in respect of any of the
maritime claims enumerated in Article 1 or of any other claim for which
the law of the Contracting State permits arrest.
- (3) Nevertheless any Contracting State shall be entitled wholly or
partly to exclude from the benefits of this Convention any Government of a
non-Contracting State or any person who has not, at the time of the
arrest, his habitual residence or principal place of business in one of
the Contracting States.
- (4) Nothing in this Convention shall modify or affect the rules of law
in force in the respective Contracting States relating to the arrest of
any ship within the jurisdiction of the State of her flag by a person who
has his habitual residence or principal place of business in that State.
- (5) When a maritime claim is arrested by a third party other than the
original claimant, whether by subrogation, assignment or otherwise, such
third party shall for the purpose of this Convention, be deemed to have
the same habitual residence or principal place of business as the original
claimant.
Article 9
Nothing in this Convention shall be construed as creating a right of
action, which, apart from the provisions of this Convention, would not
arise under the law applied by the Court which had seisin of the case, nor
as creating any maritime liens which do not exist under such law or under
the Convention on Maritime Mortgages and Liens, if the latter is
applicable.
Article 10
The High Contracting Parties may at the time of signature, deposit or
ratification or accession, reserve
(a) the right not to apply this Convention to the arrest of a ship for any
of the claims enumerated in paragraphs (o) and (p) of Article 1, but to
apply their domestic laws to such claims;
(b) the right not to apply the first paragraph of Article 3 to the arrest
of a ship, within their jurisdiction, for claims set out in Article 1,
paragraph (1).
Article 11
The High Contracting Parties undertake to submit to arbitration any
disputes between States arising out of the interpretation or application
of this Convention, but this shall be without prejudice to the obligations
of those High Contracting Parties who have agreed to submit their disputes
to the International Court of Justice.
Article 12
This Convention shall be open for signature by the State represented at
the Ninth Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Law. The protocol of signature
shall be drawn up through the good offices of the Belgian Minister of
Foreign Affairs.
Article 13
This Convention shall be ratified and the instruments of ratification
shall be deposited with the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs which
shall notify all signatory and acceding States of the deposit of any such
instruments.
Article 14
(a) This Convention shall come into force between the two States which
first ratify it, six months after the date of the deposit of the second
instrument of ratification.
- (b) This Convention shall come into force in respect of each signatory
State which ratifies it after the deposit of the second instrument of
ratification six months after the date of the deposit of the instrument of
ratification of that State.
Article 15
Any State not represented at the Ninth Diplomatic Conference on Maritime
Law may accede to this Convention.
- The accession of any State shall be notified to the Belgian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs which shall inform through diplomatic channels all
signatory and acceding States of such notification.
The Convention shall come into force in respect of the acceding State six
months after the date of the receipt of such notification but not before
the Convention has come into force in accordance with the provisions of
Article 14(a).
Article 16
Any High Contracting Party may three years after the coming into force of
this Convention in respect of such High Contracting Party or at any time
thereafter request that a conference be convened in order to consider
amendments to the Convention.
- Any High Contracting Party proposing to avail itself of this right
shall notify the Belgian Government which shall convene the conference
within six months thereafter.
Article 17
Any High Contracting Party shall have the right to denounce this
Convention at any time after the coming into force thereof in respect of
such High Contracting Party. This denunciation shall take effect one year
after the date on which notification thereof has been received by the
Belgian Government which shall inform through diplomatic channels all the
other High Contracting Parties of such notification.
Article 18
(a) Any High Contracting Party may at the time of its ratification of or
accession to this Convention or at any time thereafter declare by written
notification to the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the
Convention shall extend to any of the territories for whose international
relations it is responsible. The Convention shall six months after the
date of the receipt of such notification by the Belgian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs extend to the territories named therein, but not before
the date of the coming into force of the Convention in respect of such
High Contracting Party.
- (b) A High Contracting Party which has made a declaration under
paragraph (a) of this Article extending the Convention to any territory
for whose international relations it is responsible may at any time
thereafter declare by notification given to the Belgian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs that the Convention shall cease to extend to such
territory and the Convention shall one year after the receipt of the
notification by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs cease to extend
thereto.
- (c) The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall inform through
diplomatic channels all signatory and acceding States of any notification
received by it under this Article.
Done in Brussels, on May 10, 1952, in the French and English languages,
the two texts being equally authentic.
Signatories : Federal Republic of Germany82, Belgium, Brazil82, Spain82,
France, Greece, Italy, Mohaco, Nicaragua, United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia.
82 Ad referendum
83 For later ratification
Private Maritime Law, Miscellaneous Conventions, etc.
Ratifications and Accessions as on January 1, 1981
RATIFICATION
Belgium April 10, 1961
Egypt August 24, 1955
France May 25, 1957
Germany (F.R.) October 6, 1972
Great Britain and Northern Ireland March 18, 1959
Greece February 27, 1967
Holy See August 10, 1956
Italy November 9, 1979
Portugal May 4, 1957
Spain December 8, 1953
Yugoslavia July 25, 1967
ACCESSION
Algeria August 18, 1964
Bahamas85 May 12, 1965
Benin84 April 23, 1958
Cameroon84 April 23, 1958
Centrafrica Republic84 April 23, 1958
Comore Isles84 April 23, 1958
Congo Popular Republic84 April 23, 1958
Costa Rica July 13, 1955
Djibouti84 April 23, 1958
Dominican Republic85 May 12, 1965
Fiji October 10, 1970
France
Overseas Territories April 23, 1958
Gabon84 April 23, 1958
Germany
Land Berlin October 6, 1972
Great Britain and Northern Ireland
(Overseas Territories)
Antiqua, Cayman Islands, Motserrat
St. Cristopher Nevis, Anguilla May 12, 1965
St. Helena, St. Lucia, Belize,
Turk's Isles and Caecos September 21, 1965
Bermuda May 30, 1963
British Virgin Islands May 29, 1963
Falkland Islands and dependencies October 17, 1969
Gibraltar, Hong Kong March 29, 1963
Guernsey December 8, 1965
Grenada87 May 12, 1965
Guiana88 March 29, 1963
Guianea Republic86 April 23, 1958
Haï ti November 4, 1954
Haute - Volta86 April 23, 1958
Ivory Coast86 April 23, 1958
Khmere Republic November 12, 1956
Kiribati88 September 2, 1965
Malgache Republic86, 87 April 23, 1958
Mauritania86 April 23, 1958
Mauritius88 March 29, 1963
Niger86 April 23, 1958
Nigeria November 7, 1963
North Borneo88 March 29, 1963
Paraguay November 22, 1967
Poland July 16, 1976
Sarawak88 September 28, 1962
Senegal86 April 23, 1958
Seychelles88 March 29, 1963
Solomon Isles88 September 21, 1965
St. Lucia88 May 12, 1965
Sudan86 April 23, 1958
Switzerland May 28, 1954
Syrian Arabic Republic February 3, 1972
Tchad86 April 23, 1958
Togo86 April 23, 1958
Tonga June 13, 1978
Tuvalu88 September 21, 1965
Zaï re Republic July 17, 1967
84 By the accession of France
85 By the accession of Great Britain
86 By the accession of France
87 Formal confirmation by the Malgache Rep. registered 13.7.65
88 By the accession of Great Britain.
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- BCAS: 7103-1001
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