Party autonomy and the arrest of ships

This chapter aims to demonstrate when the arrest of the ship frustrates the choice of forum or arbitration clauses of the parties in favour of a particular court or arbitral tribunal included in the charterparty or the B/L, by ‘fixing’ jurisdiction through the act of arrest. This is considered through a comparative study of the application of arrest conventions and the requirements for the arrest of vessels in the EU, as well as England and Spain, in particular. There is a lack of legal certainty due to the plethora of legal frameworks, and major efforts are required towards procedural unification to ensure the parties’ will is carried out.