Embodied and almost concealed in the gross complexities of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 is a prospective measure of material significance in the fields of commercial and maritime arbitration and which appertains to the potential association between the security obtained in an Admiralty proceeding in rem and an arbitral award.1 Section 26 of the Act establishes a discretionary framework whereunder a court exercising Admiralty jurisdiction may, in circumstances when the court is pursuaded or compelled to surrender jurisdiction to an arbitration forum, nonetheless continues to retain control over the security established in the Admiralty proceeding to secure the satisfaction of any future arbitration award or otherwise ensure that satisfaction of the award is secured by the provision of an alternative and equivalent security. The security obtained in an Admiralty proceeding in rem customarily assumes the form of the arrested maritime res, namely ship, cargo or freight, or bail or some other security given either to preclude the arrest of a maritime res or to secure its subsequent release from arrest. The effect of s. 26 is to directly or indirectly preserve the maritime security in the event of an Admiralty proceeding being terminated or suspended prior to judgment—the object being to protect the interests of a plaintiff who is validly thwarted in his effort to prosecute his claim by Admiralty process. Although in the circumstances such a plaintiff cannot take the benefit of the Admiralty jurisdiction he is not further to be denied the benefit of the pre-judgment security associated with the Admiralty process.

The idea of security for the satisfaction of an arbitration award is of course not a novel concept. It is always open to the parties to agree upon the provision of such a security, and the rules under which institutional arbitrations are conducted often