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    Maritime Liens and Mortgages

    By

    *Sani M. Adam

    1. INTRODUCTION

    One of the most important means of interaction between nation states is

    trade and an important aspect of international trade is the shipment of

    goods. In fact, the ability of nation states to maintain harmonious and

    beneficial trade relations with each other depends on the efficacy and

    standard of service rendered by the shipping industry, we are informed.1

    Ships by their vast size, weight and sophistication coupled with the

    vulnerable nature of their voyages are open to varied risks traversing

    many seas and continents of the world. This exercise, we are told, often

    results in far reaching legal consequences where the ships are engaged in

    commercial enterprise, whether as passenger and for Cargo vessel 2.

    Hence, there must be understanding between nations particularly 0; the

    legal issues, rights, obligations, immunities, benefits etc arising from the

    innumerable and diverse situations arising during the course of the

    voyage of the ships. These interests, says a writer, sometimes been

    exposed to extinction or enforcement in foreign jurisdictions under laws

    different from those applicable in the vessel's state of registration. 3 It is

    such developments and the difficult experiences of parties involved that

    led to the various International Conventions on Maritime liens and

    mortgages. 4 These conventions were targeted at establishing uniform

    rules for the recognition and enforcement of these varied interests within

    the corpus jurist of the contracting and ratifying nations. The varied

    interests which are legally recognisable as attaching and enforceable

    against a ship or vessel have been classified into proprietary rights

    because they affect the paper intends to examine some of the prominent

    of such proprietary rights and interests in vessels, i.e. Maritime Liens and

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    Mortgages, their meaning, evolution, nature, types and the various

    international Conventions on Maritime liens and mortgages.

    2.0 MEANING, EVOLUTION AND NATURE OF MARITIME LIENS

    2.1 Meaning of Lien:

    Authors have offered different definitions to lien, though not substantially

    differing. A lien has been defined as "A right to retain lawful possession of

    a property of another until a claim by the person in possession against

    the owner is met". 5 The author explaining further said, "It is sometimes

    regarded as a form of 'self help' by the person claiming the lien in order

    to induce the owner of the property to comply with his obligation to pay

    or otherwise satisfy the claim of the other". 6

    t.C, Ilogu defines a lien as

    "that interest or right in the property of another which renders

    or constitutes that property as a 'security' for any claim arising

    from such identified interest or right". Usually, he explains,

    "such interest or right arises from some commercial transaction

    which imposes an obligation or Duty on the party who 'owns'

    the property (the lienor). Where such obligation or duty remains

    unfulfilled, the other party to the transaction (lienee) may

    exercise the right of 'lien' over the identified property belonging

    to the party in default until the obligation, duty or act is fulfilled

    or remedied". 7

    The foregoing therefore shows that the lien is connected to the asset or

    property e.g. Vessel or Cargo or freight or in other cases, even landed

    property, vehicles etc. The lien attaches to the property even where the

    property is not in the hand or possession of the owner, but in possession

    of the lienee exercising the right of lien or a third party.

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    The distinction between a liens and a mortgage lies in the nature of the

    rights, for they are indeed similar. While the right of lien does not vest,

    but remains dormant or silent until exercised, a mortgage specifically

    vests on creation and describes its remedies from the moment it is

    created and with either the express agreement or understanding of the

    parties thereto as to the application of those remedies. 8

    There are several types of lien which includes: Possessory lien, statutory

    lien, equitable lien and maritime lien. Our concern is Maritime lien, but we

    shall briefly consider other types first in order to bring out clearly, the

    distinction between maritime lien and other types.

    Possessory lien as suggested from the name, arises mainly from a party

    being in 'Possession' of the property at the time of its accrual, and in most

    J urisdiction, at the time of enforcement. The lien is lost once the party

    claiming damages by asserting the right loses 'possession' of the

    property. 9 This feature of actual possession distinguishes it from Maritime

    lien in which case the lien travels with the property or "res" and does not

    depend on P ossession. This type of lien (Possessory) is usually exercised

    by ship builders, ship repairers or vehicle dealers who seek to retain the

    vessel or vehicle until the cost of construction, repair, charges or purchase

    price have been paid.

    However, it has been established that what amounts to been "in

    Possession" of a vessel is a question of fact in any given case, in The

    Narada 10 even though the master and crew remained on board, brando J .

    found on the facts that the repairer has a possessory lien while in The

    Gregos" where it was held that the plaintiffs repairers who carried out

    repairs while the vessel was berthed near Newcastle were not "in

    possession" and had no right to exercise the remedy of "self-help" by

    removing engine parts. In Nigeria, United Kingdom and most common law

    nations, the lien exercised by ship repairer is a possessory lien and also a

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    statutory lien. Under the United States law, it is a maritime lien who is not

    dependent on possession. 12

    A statutory lien is one that is created by statute where such statute

    enables a party to a transaction to exercise a right attachable to the

    property of another e.g. right of retention of the unpaid seller of goods by

    the Lagos State Sale of Goods Act, 1972 and the Nigerian Admiralty

    J urisdiction Act, 199113 which confers a right of action "in rem" against

    the vessel in cases which do not give rise to maritime liens once certain

    statutory condition are satisfied.

    A fundamental difference between statutory lien and maritime lien is that

    the statutory right does not come into being until a writ is issued against

    the "res". 14

    An Equitable lien on the other hand may be implied or imposed into a

    relationship owing to fairness or wrong conduct. Thus it is a right

    enforceable against the property of a party who create it in a transaction

    and those who acquire interest subsequently (third parties) in such

    property with notice of such an interest.

    This type of lien does not depend on "possession" as in the case of

    possessory

    Lien. 15

    2.1 Maritime Lien

    Maritime liens are of a different nature from those noticed above and they

    operate in a different way. A Maritime lien/we are informed, is a privileged

    claim on a ship, or on her Cargo, or on either both of these and the

    freight, in respect of service done to or injury caused by them. 16 A

    maritime lien cannot generally exist in respect of a foreign state-owned

    vessel or a vessel compulsorily requisitioned for public purposes by a

    Sovereign state." An exception is however created where a vessel owned

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    by a foreign state is engaged in ordinary trading, no immunity will be

    granted to her."

    Maritime lien is based on the concept that the ship (res) has itself caused

    harm, loss or damage to others or their property and must itself make

    good that loss or damage. The ship is deemed to be the wrongdoer and

    not its owners and is liable to the party who suffers as a result of such

    wrongdoing. Thus upon the happening of the wrongful act, a maritime lien

    arises in favour of the party concerned and attached as a right in and

    against the property of the ship concerned. It is therefore a right which

    detracts from the absolute title of the owner of the res.

    Its evolution (history) is traced back to the development of common

    customs and practices of the Admirals in England and France in 14th

    century, we are informed. 19 In France, these customs and practices were

    later codified and recognised the rights of seamen to their wages, and

    salvors of ships or cargo to reward which were accorded preferential

    treatment over other claims before the Admiralty court as rights

    enforceable against the vessels concerned. 20 Such claims became the

    basis of the rights or interest referred to in modern maritime law of most

    nations, as maritime lien.

    J udicial decisions and writings of learned authors have traced the origin of

    maritime lien and simultaneously exposing its important features. The

    origin of maritime lien, as perceived under English law originated in 1851

    following the decision in The Bold Buccleugh"'. The court here,

    emphasised that maritime lien is a right which 'travels' with the ship into

    whosoever possession it may subsequently go. Thus, it does not depend

    on possession nor upon notice through filing at a registry as .n the case of

    a mortgage. Emphasizing on this, a writer says:

    "A maritime lien attaches to the vessel and gains priority without any

    court action, deed or other written evidence or any registration, i.e. it

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    need not be registered, i.e. obvious reason for this is that a ship's master

    or owner who salvage another sinking vessel, for instance, could not

    reasonably be expected, mid-ocean or in a foreign port, to hurry to a

    registry which possibly could be thousand miles away to register their

    lien. Even where the facilities to undertake the registration exists, the

    master would most probably have many pressing needs on his hands

    ranging from safety at sea, crew problem to safety of cargo etc." 22

    It is therefore often referred to as 'secret' lien and said to be indelible until

    acted upon by the admiralty court in an action in rem and 'good against

    the world' including a good faith purchaser of the vessel acting without

    notice of the lien's existence.

    From the historical point of view thus and having regard to some

    jurisdictional variations, maritime liens usually arise either from contract,

    tort or operation of law in respect of the following claims: Seamen's

    wages, master's wages and disbursements, salvage, damage caused by a

    ship's tortious act e.g. collision, supply of necessaries (now USA only) and

    repairer's lien (USA only). From available sources, the following represents

    the salient features of maritime lien as they are consequences associated

    with same:

    1. The lien arises upon the occurrence of the event creating it, i.e.

    collision or wages becoming payable.

    2. Once created, the lien is enforceable even if the ship is sold and

    whether or not the purchaser has notice of it;

    3. The lien is enforceable through an action in rem and as part of this,

    (a) the ship, cargo or freight subject to it is liable to arrest prior to a

    hearing on the merit; (b) J urisdiction on the merit is founded on the

    service of a writ in rem and arrest;

    4. In respect of the ship, cargo or freight, the target for the action, the

    lien is enforceable against other creditors, (secured or unsecured)

    and subject to existing possessory lien, taken priority over all other

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    creditors whether the claims of those creditors arose before or after

    the creation of the lien.

    5. Properly arrested as part of an action in rem in the court enforcing

    the lien may be subject to judicial sale and the proceeds are

    available to a lien holder and other claimants in rem;

    6. J udicial sale as a step in enforcement of the lien extinguishes it and

    transfers the lien to the proceeds;

    7. The lien is extinguished by the destruction of the ship, cargo or

    freight to which it attaches;

    8. The lien may be extinguished by larches, waiver or satisfaction of

    the debt and, possibly by lodging of bail, or the provision of a

    guarantee. 23

    3.0 MARITIME MORTGAGES

    This has been defined as the creation of a charge or encumbrance in

    favour of the lender by the person wishing to borrow. 24 Thus, a ship owner

    (mortgagor) who wishes to obtain money because of under-capitalisation

    may do so by transferring his interest or property in the vessel to the

    lender (mortgagee) as security for the loan. The mortgagor or owner is

    free to continue operating and trading the vessel as a profit-making

    possession provided he does not act in such a manner as to jeopardise or

    put at risk the ship as security for the mortgage and thereby prejudicing

    the mortgagee's position. The mortgagee does not take actual possession

    because the whole idea behind the transaction is that the vessel shall be

    redeemed and the constructive transfer to the mortgage is called off on

    repayment of the amount due by the mortgagor.

    But under the common law, the old practice was that the mortgage

    absolutely conveyed the vessel to the mortgagee and on repayment by

    mortgage will reconvey the vessel to the mortgage. This method was

    discontinued since 1825 and substituted in most common law countries

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    by the introduction of special forms of mortgage by statute (i.e. statutory

    mortgage) 25

    The essential feature of a mortgage is that it is only a security transaction

    and upon satisfaction of the loan which is secured by the property is

    redeemed. But where it is not redeemed by a time limit provided, the

    property becomes realisable by the mortgage. The ship owner

    (mortgagor) remains in actual possession, and continues to use the vessel

    provided nothing detrimental to the mortgagee's interest is done.

    An equitable mortgage may also be effected by the deposit of the deed of

    legal mortgage in respect of an existing loan with another person in

    consideration of another loan. This is possible because as earlier

    maintained; actual possession of the vessel is still in the mortgagor. It

    may also be created by means of an agreement to enter into a legal

    mortgage in consideration of a loan. Also, where a vessel is under

    construction, a deposit of the builder's certificate in respect thereto may

    constitute an equitable mortgage of the vessel. The effect of an equitable

    mortgage is to confer on the equitable mortgagee a preferential right over

    the thing charged. It is however subject to the overriding interest of

    existing legal mortgages and maritime lien holders.

    It is essential to emphasise that while lien does not vest title in the vessel

    on the lienee, the mortgage does vest title on the mortgagee as the most

    distinguishing feature between lien and mortgage. Also, the lienee does'

    not necessarily have the power of sale of the vessel (i.e. without due

    process of law leading to a judicial sale etc.), the mortgagee has in the

    event of default. 27 Further, most ship registries acknowledge sand

    register mortgage transactions and thus giving notice, thereof, liens are

    not registrable.

    3.1 Registration

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    A legal mortgage of a ship is normally done in writing and is registered or

    recorded in the ship'!) register at the Port of registry of the vessel in most

    jurisdictions. 21 There is no legal obligation to register, but it is usually

    done to give proper legal effect to the mortgage. Any mortgagee who

    does not register Is not entitled to the benefits under the Act especially in

    terms of priorities to be discussed in the later part of this paper, failure to

    register it must however be emphasised does not under the mortgage

    void. It is also obvious that if a ship is not registered, no registration of

    mortgage can be effected on it. Registration is deemed to be notice to the

    public of the transaction since the ship's register is a public document

    which is available for inspection by interested parties. The most important

    advantage of registration is obtaining priority against later secured

    creditors of the mortgagor against all non-registered mortgages. It gives

    precedence to later registered encumbrances as the ranking in terms of

    priority is governed solely by the date of registration of the mortgage.

    3.2 Priorities

    Registration gives a mortgagee priority over:

    (a) Earlier unregistered mortgages, whether or not the mortgagee has

    knowledge of them;

    (b) Later registered or unregistered mortgages;

    (c) Unregistered debentures of earlier creation, even though the

    mortgagee knew of them;

    (d) Additional advances subsequently made under a prior registered

    mortgage where under the agreement was that the mortgage

    should cover present and future advances by the mortgagee (this

    arises only under common law and not statute).

    A mortgagee of a registered mortgage does not however have

    priority over:

    (a) Mortgages registered earlier;

    (b) Maritime liens, whether earlier or later, 29

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    (c) Any claims in connection with which the vessel had already been

    arrested at the time when the mortgage was entered into; and

    (d) Any mortgages entered into under certificate of mortgage where

    notice of the certificate of mortgage appeared on the register at the

    time when the mortgagee entered into his mortgage. 30

    L C. Ilogu however inform us that the issue of priorities only arises where a

    'res' has or is to be sold by the order of a court of competent jurisdiction

    or other authorised body in order to satisfy the monetary claim of a holder

    of a proprietary right enforceable against the res where the ship owner

    fails to appear to defend the sanction and put up security. We are

    informed further that the mere fact of commencing action in rem or

    obtaining judgement thereon does not enhance the claimant's ranking in

    priority. The claimant's interest must be positioned as appropriate in the

    given jurisdiction among other competing riqhts." Further, an examination

    of some national laws or rules of procedure and the provisions of the

    various conventions on maritime liens and mortgages seem to suggest

    the following order of ranking of proprietary rights in ships, says t.C, Ilogu:

    1. Statutory, court and other charges and costs;

    2. Cost of arrest sand sale of the res;

    3. Maritime liens which rank inter se from salvage, damage, seamen

    and masters' wages to repairers (USA), necessaries (USA);

    4. Possessory liens, necessaries;

    5. Registered mortgages, and charges;

    6. Statutory rights in rem which include cargo and charter party

    claimants, repairers, tonnage, pilotage etc;

    7. State liens or mortgagees (USA only) and

    8. Other trade creditors. 32

    It is submitted that in view of the differences in laws of countries and

    jurisdictions, this order of priority enumerated by L.c. Ilogu is indeed a

    better and more acceptable basis of determining priorities for the

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    purposes of sharing the proceeds of sale of the res. It appear: to be the

    most prevalent order of priority amongst nation states.

    4. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS ON MARITIME LIENS AND

    MORTGAGES

    From our examination of the issue of priorities, and the foregoing

    discussion so far, it is obvious that the recognition of the principles and

    rules relating to maritime liens and mortgages is no uniform and duties

    among the countries of the world. Only very few principles and rules are

    uniformly recognised. But the situation is still not helpful because of the

    problem of enforcement resulting from jurisdiction differences and

    problem. The aim of the various international conventions on maritime

    liens and mortgages and other maritime claims, namely the 1926, 1967

    and 1993, was to secure uniform framework for the recognition and

    enforcements of these proprietary interest. The reasons responsible for

    the little success is not farfetched. The primary reason is attributed to the

    lack of consensus on the confect of laws principles governing the creation

    and operation of maritime liens. Also, the difficulty in accepting the

    priority of maritime liens over mortgages in some jurisdictions has been

    attributed to the conflict between the operating interests, (i.e. ship

    owners, salvors, crew) and the financial interests (lenders). The resultant

    effect of all these is that many nations are yet to implement any of these

    conventions and therefore subjecting the proprietary rights to divergent

    enforcement regimes.

    The 1926 convention for example recognises certain categories of

    maritime liens and its priority over mortgages. The liens are also

    extinguished after one year with a few registration in accordance with the

    law of a contracting state in which the vessel is registered. We are

    however informed by our sources that as at 1995, only 28 states had

    ratified the convention, 69 years after."

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    The 1967 International Convention for the unification of certain rules

    relating to maritime liens and mortgages retains substantial provisions of

    the 1926 convention except for the removal of master's disbursements

    from the recognised categories of maritime lien. The convention further

    requires the deregistration of ships should be with the consent of the

    registered mortgagees. Also, as at 1995, we are informed, only 4 states

    had ratified it although some state laws which have not ratified it is said

    to conform with its provisions, e.g. Germany. 34

    The International convention on maritime liens and mortgages 1993 was

    carried out under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation

    (IMO) unlike the previous ones which were initiated by the United Nations.

    It is substantially similar to the earlier conventions and recognises the

    categories of maritime liens as in the previous conventions, but it has

    excluded from the list of maritime lien claims wreck removals, general

    average contributions and damage arising from the carriage of oil and

    other hazardous substances where compensation is payable under

    another convention or statutory provision. With regards to mortgages, the

    convention contains similar provisions on earlier ones which relates to

    recognition, enforcement and priority of interests registered in accordance

    with the law of the stage of the vessel's registration. This convention

    provides for registered mortgages to be extinguished by judicial or forced

    sale of the vessel except where the sale takes place in the state or

    registry and there is consent as between the parties that the mortgage

    should continue.

    The provisions of these conventions may differ from those obtained under

    national laws which are often at variance with the convention. Also, the

    conventions have not been ratified by most nations especially the

    powerful maritime nations such as J apan, United States and the United

    Kingdom have not ratified the earlier conventions. This has increased the

    conflict of laws principles and rules governing the creation and operation

    of these proprietary rights.

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    Thus, the positive effects of the provisions of these conventions have not

    been appreciated in view of the fact that conflicting national laws is

    applied more often in resolving conflicts arising from the creation and

    operation of these proprietary interests or rights to the detriment of the

    holders of such rights or interests.

    4.1 Nigeria

    Although Nigeria is yet to ratify and for implement any of these

    conventions earlier mentioned, most provisions of its national laws

    relating to maritime liens and mortgages substantially conforms with the

    provisions of these conventions. S. 5(3) of the Nigerian Admiralty Act,

    1991 defines maritime liens and recognises the following categories of

    maritime liens:

    (a) salvage; or

    (b) damage done by ship; or

    (c) wages of the master or a member of the crew of a ship; or

    (d) master's disbursements.

    The Nigerian Merchant Shipping Act, 1990 provides in S. 374(1) a two

    years limitation period for pursuing such claims. As for mortgages, the

    Nigerian Admiralty J urisdiction Act, 1991 defines mortgage in 8.26(1) to

    include "a hypothecation, or pledge of and a charge on the ship or share"

    while the Merchant shipping act, 1990 provides the requirements for

    mortgaging Nigerian vessels, registration and priority of such mortgages

    etc which are substantially the same as the provisions of the International

    Conventions earlier examined.

    From an examination of the national laws of some countries especially the

    common and civil law jurisdictions, even though they have not ratified the

    various conventions some of their laws conform substantially with the

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    5.2 Choice of Law

    After resolving the issue of jurisdiction and it is determined that a court is

    conferred with jurisdiction, the next issue for determination is what lawwill apply? Many rules on determining choice of law have been evolved,

    but the significant ones in relation to maritime claims are:

    1. Lex Fori, which means the domestic or national law of the forum; and

    2. Lex causae, which means the law which governs the question or

    transaction and which may further be reduced into the law of

    domicile (Lex domicili) or law of place of contract (Lex contractus).

    It is a generally recognised principle of International law that the

    substantive rights of the parties to an action may be determined by

    foreign law (Lex causae) while matters of procedure are determined by

    the lex fori (local law). The problem that often arise is the difficulty of

    determining what is a substantive issues and a procedural one. 37

    The Nigerian approach appears to be lex fori and therefore procedural.

    This is derived from decisions such as Pavlos Chiladakis v. Owners of MN

    Rinio. 38 Thus, this absence of uniform international means in resolving

    choice of law problem tend to encourage forum shopping by claimants on

    the one hand and on the other hand causes inequity or injustice in certain

    jurisdiction.

    5.3 Recognition of Foreign Judgements

    As a general rule the judgement of the court of a foreign country has no

    direct application in another country unless enforced or recognised. 33 The

    procedure for the enrolment or registration of foreign judgements are

    mainly issues of lex fori and vary from jurisdictions, the common factors

    for consideration been that it is a final judgment and that the due process

    of law has been complied with.

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    5.4 Procedures and Types of Action

    In most common law and some civil law jurisdictions, 2 types of legal

    action are maintainable, namely; an action against the vessel itself known

    as an 'action in rem' and/or action against the owner known as 'action in

    personam'.

    There are conflicting schools of thought as to whether an action in rem is

    procedural or substantive in nature. It is regarded as procedural in the

    United Kingdom and here it is predicated on the commencement of legal

    action and the arrest of seizure of the vessel. The substantive thought is

    prevalent in U.S.A. and Canada and it is based on the legal principle that

    the right of actions is enforceable against the "res" or person of the

    vessel. The debate is not our concern, but judicial decisions do shed some

    light on the controversy. Hence, where procedural approach is adopted,

    the conflict of laws is resolved by lex tori." In practice, it is usual to

    commence an action 'in rem' against the res in a jurisdiction where the

    vessel can be located since any order or judgement of the applicable court

    is to be directed at the res itself. On the other hand, an action 'in,

    personam' being directed at the person of the owner, charter or operator

    of the vessel should be commenced where he can be found, either

    personally or in relation to his business.

    While in most common law jurisdictions, writs 'in rem' and 'in personam'

    can be served through master of the vessel to enforce maritime liens and

    mortgages, in civil law countries, 'in rem' actions are unknown and in

    some of these countries e.g. France and Belgium, enforcement of

    maritime claims are done by applying the 'Saisae Conservatioire' or

    conservatory attachment which prevent -the defendant's assets from

    being removed from jurisdiction or dissipated. This approach is likened to

    orders for arrest, attachment, detention or even mareva injunction which

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    can only be sought in common law countries after issuance of a writ in

    rem or in personam, the most commonest being the Arrest Order which

    serves as a form of interim relief or provisional remedy; a ground of

    jurisdiction over the matter and as a way of obtaining 'security' for the

    claim. In the U.S.A., there is an additional process similar to arrest

    procedure in Nigeria and U.K. called 'Action in Personam with Attachment'.

    The procedure for judicial sale of vessels may vary from jurisdiction to

    another, but the end result is often that all rights in rem are extinguished.

    40 A sale by a competent court of authority confers good title to the new

    owner of the vessel free from all encumbrances and will be so recognised

    in other jurisdlctlons." In support of this assertion. Brown D. J . in The

    Trento 42 said:

    II the doctrine that the sale of a vessel by a court of

    competent jurisdiction discharges her from liens of every

    description is the law of the civilised world:

    6.0 OBSERVATIONS. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

    The foregoing analysis obviously present numerous legal problems which

    requires attention and solutions internationally at first and then within

    individual country's jurisdiction. In the first place, there is the difficulty in

    defining the scope and maritime liens uniformly among nation states. The

    end result as earlier noticed is the inequity and injustice resulting from the

    non-recognition of some in certain jurisdictions. Some writers have put

    forward suggestions on the need to introduce a system of registration of

    Maritime liens as done in the case of mortgages within a limited period of

    its accrual. While we concede to this suggestion, we shall be quick to point

    out that such is only practicable written the scope of maritime liens is

    uniformly recognised by nation states, otherwise the major problem of

    non-recognition will still constitute a barrier. Another problem likely to

    pose with registration of maritime lien is the difficulty earlier noted by

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    J ustice R. D. Muhammed when he said ".. it need not be gist fired. the

    obvious reason is that a ship's master or owner who salvage another

    sinking vessel, for instance could not reasonably by expected, mid-ocean

    or in a foreign pert to hurry to a Registry which possibly could be

    thousand miles away to register their lien. Even where the facilities to

    undertake the registration exists, the master would most probably have

    many pressing needs 0:1 his hands ranging from safety at sea, crew

    problem to safety of cargo etc

    There is the compelling need for the International Community to ratify the

    various conventions for the unification of the conception and enforcement

    principles on maritime liens and mortgages. Thus there is the need for

    adoption and integration of the International Conventions into the national

    laws for uniformity of rules and principles, the compelling need for this

    cannot be emphasised bearing in mind the importance of the maritime

    industry in the development of International trade and relations between

    nation states especially with the increasing level of International trade and

    transportation by sea and use of ships.

    ENDNOTES

    *Sam M. Adam (LLM)

    Dept. of Property & Commercial Law Faculty of Law

    University of jos

    1. Christopher Hill, Maritime Law (Great Britain: The Pitman Press,

    1981) p. 23

    2. i.c. Ilogu. Modus International Law & Business Quarterly, Vol. 2 No.

    2, J une 1997, p. 35

    3. Ibid

    4. The 1926, 1967 and 1993 International Conventions on Maritime

    Liens & Mortgages

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    5. justice R. D. Muhammed, jCA, Commenting on Maritime Liens and

    Mortgages: International Perspective, Abuja, 1997, p. 1 and citing

    Alfred H. Sivertown: The Law of Lien (1988)

    6. Ibid

    7. L. C. Ilogu, op cit, p. 35

    8 See generally "Enforcement of maritime Claims" by D.C. jackson,

    2nd ed. as cited by t.C, Ilogu, op cit, p. 36

    9. See The Ally (1952)2 Lloyd's Rep. 427; The Scio (1867) 1A & E353

    10. (1977)1 lloyd's Rep. p. 256

    11. (1986)2 lloyd's Rep. p. 347

    12. See S. 91 Maritime Lien Act (46 US Code)

    13. S. 5 (4) of the Act

    14. See The Monicas (1967)2 lloyd's Rep. 113

    15. See The Ugland Trailer (1985)2 lloyd's Rep. 372 and The Annangel

    Glory (1988)1 loyd's Rep. 4'j

    16 Fhe Rippon City (1897) p. 226

    17. Vascongada v. Cristina (1938) AC 485 or (1938)1 Alier 719

    18 See S. 10(2) The State Immunity Act, 1978 of U.K. and The

    Philippine Admiral (1976) 1 Alier 78

    19. L. C. Ilogu, op cit, p. 37.

    20. William Tetley, Maritime liens & Claims, 1st ed; Chapter 1, p.38-41

    and cited in t.C, Ilogu, op cit, p. 37

    21. (1851)13 ER at 890

    22. justice R. D. Muhammed, jCA, op cit, p.2

    23. L. C. Ilogu, op. cit, p. 38

    24. Christopher Hill, op, cit, p. 23

    25. See S. 323 (i) Nigerian Merchant Shipping act, 7990 and U.K.

    Merchant Shipping Act, 1988 which amended the 1894 Act

    26. See King v. King (1735) 3P WMS 358

    27. See S. 326(2) Nigerian Merchant Shipping act, 1990

    28. See S. 323 (2) Nigerian Merchant Shipping Act, 1990; S 31 ID U.K.

    Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (As amended by the 1988 Act)

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    29 See The Loannis Daskaleiis (1974) 1 lloyd's Rep. 174: The

    Pickanranny (1960)1 teyfs Rep. 533 and TheColorado (1923) 14

    lloyd's Rep. 251

    30. A Certificate of Mortgage is made to cover circumstances where the

    ship owner desires to mortgage it outside the country in which the

    ship's port of registry is located. The ship owner then applies to the

    registrar at the port of registry to issue a certificate of mortgage.

    See S. 42 of the U.K. Merchant Shipping act, 1894

    31. t.C, Ilogu, op cit p.46

    32. Ibid

    33. Ibid. p. 40

    34. Ibid

    35. See The Eleftheria 11969)2 ALLER 641; The Nordwind (1987)3 NSCI;

    The Atlantic Star (1974); The Abidin Daver (1984) AC 398

    36. See The Loannis Daskelelis (1974) 1 lloyd's Rep 174; The Halcyon

    Isle (1980)2 lloyd's Rep 325; The Scotia 35 F907 (SD. NY 1880)

    37. (1986)2 NSC638

    38. See Dicey and Morris "The Conflict of Laws" 11th ed; cap 14 p. 418

    as cited in t.C, Ilogu, op. cit, p.44

    39. See Phrantzes v. Argenti (1960)2 QS 19 at 35

    40. See The Edith (1976) 74 US 518

    41. Per Lushington in the Tremont 166 ER534 at 534

    42. (1888) 4F 657 at 662 E.D. Mien.

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