1 HISTORY OF THE CONVENTION

The decision to consider the revision of the 1952 Arrest Convention was taken by the CMI following a resolution of the IMO1 and UNCTAD2 to place on their working programme the revision of the 1926 and 1967 Maritime Liens and Mortgages Conventions and of the 1952 Arrest Convention. The CMI International Subcommittee appointed by the CMI Executive Council in respect of this latter Convention, under the chairmanship of Professor Allan Philip, considered, inter alia, the additions that should be made to the list of maritime claims, the problems of whether a ship can be arrested in respect of claims against persons other than the owner of the ship, and whether the arrest should in all circumstances give rise to jurisdiction. In view of the quality and quantity of changes that were being discussed, the International Subcommittee decided that it would have been difficult to carry out the revision by means of a protocol and, therefore, prepared the draft of a new Convention for consideration by the forthcoming CMI Lisbon Conference in 1985.3 The draft was considered by the Conference and, as amended by it, was approved with twenty-three votes in favour, three against and seven abstentions.4