Action in Rem: Admiralty Jurisdiction in India

A foreign cargo ship docks at Nhava Sheva near Navi Mumbai after damaging a consignment. The shipowner is a company registered in another country with no office in India, and the crew will sail in two days. Suing the owner in his home country would take years. Indian courts have a quicker tool: they can arrest the ship itself, so that she cannot leave until the claim is secured. This is an action in rem, and it is the most important example of the idea in practice.

In two minutes

In an admiralty action in rem the claim is brought against the ship, which is arrested within the court’s waters to secure a maritime claim; in India this jurisdiction belongs to the High Courts and is now governed by the Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act 2017.

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