INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
FOR THE UNIFICATION OF CERTAIN RULES RELATING TO THE ARREST OF SEA-GOING SHIPS
(Brussels,
10.V.1952)
The
High Contracting Parties,
Having
recognized the desirability of determining by agreement certain uniform rules
of law relating to the arrest of sea-going ships,
Have
decided to conclude a convention for this purpose and thereto have agreed as
follows:
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 connexion 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 owned;
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 of
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.
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 extend or restrict any right or Powers vested in any Governments or
their Departments, Public Authorities, or Dock of Harbour Authorities under
their existing domestic laws or regulations to arrest, detain or otherwises
prevent the sailing of vessels within their jurisdiction.
1.
Subject to the provisions of paragraph 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 judicial authority that the bail 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.
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.
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 hail 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.
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 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.
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 principal 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 of 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 23rd September 1910;
e) if the claim is for
salvage;
f) it the claim is upon a
mortgage or hypothecation of the ship arrested.
2.
If the Court within whose jurisdiction the ship was arrested has not
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 that 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 preceding 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 17, October 1868.
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 asserted 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.
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 season 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.
The
High Contracting Parties may at the time of signature, deposit of 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 "q".
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.
This
Convention shall be open for signature by the States represented at the Ninth
Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Law. The protocol of signature shall be drawn
up through the good offices of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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.
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.
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 such notification