1.1 Nature of maritime liens

1.1.1 Notion of maritime lien

This work examines maritime liens and the law and practice relating to them. The word “lien” is derived from the Latin ligare meaning to bind: a maritime lien binds maritime property referred to as the res. In The Father Thames ¹ Sheen J said a maritime lien “is more easily recognised than defined”. It is a concept “peculiar to maritime law”. ² Indeed that concept has been described as the “most unique [sic] concept of all in Admiralty law” by the Supreme Court of India in Konavolov v Commander, Coast Guard Region ³ and as one which is “sui generis” by Allsop CJ and Edelman J in the Australian Full Federal Court in Ship Sam Hawk v Reiter Petroleum Inc. ⁴ The same was said by the Irish Appeal Court in Atlas Baltic Ou v Interest in the M/V Lady Magda. ⁵ But the lien is not merely a lien: it is a maritime lien. The word maritime indicates sufficiently that the lien is one pertaining to the sea meaning, as Field J indicated in The Rock Island Bridge, ⁶ that a maritime lien exists upon or in respect of things which are on the high seas or navigable waters which are, usually, the subjects of commerce; they thus usually relate to or concern maritime trade.