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It stands accepted that having regard to the legislative and executive policy, England and Wales never considered the arrears of insurance premium as a 'necessary'. The Courts of England further maintained a distinction between a maritime claim and maritime lien. The decisions cited by Mr. Bharucha go to show that the English Courts proceeded on the premise that for the purpose of considering as to whether any necessary has been supplied to a ship or not must have a sufficient and direct connection with the operation of the ship. It held that unpaid insurance premium is not a maritime claim as it is not needed to keep it going. [See Queen Vs. Judge of the City of London Court (supra), Heinrich Bjorn (supra), The Andre Theodore (supra), The Aifanourious (supra). The English Courts, thus, refused to put a wide construction on that term.

The purpose of the 1952 Convention was to restrict the possibilities of arrest with regard to seagoing vessels flying the flag of a contracting State. Such an arrest was allowed for maritime claims against the vessel or against the sister ship belonging to the same owners. What would be the maritime claim is specified in Article 1 of the Convention. Other claims can only be secured if the vessel's home port is situated in a non-contracting State.

Apart from those restrictions resulting from the Convention, all kinds of claims can be secured by an arrest and there is no need to prove a connection with the operation of the vessel. As for example, a guarantee given by the owners for a subsidiary company or other principal debtor is as suitable as a claim resulting from the purchase of the ship or any other goods by the owners. However, in terms of Article 1(k) of the Convention claims for "goods or materials" supplied to a ship for her operation or maintenance are acknowledged as maritime claims.

(Emphasis supplied) (See paras 78 and 99 also) It was further observed:

"89. All persons and things within the waters of a State fall within its jurisdiction unless specifically curtailed or regulated by rules of international law. The power to arrest a foreign vessel, while in the waters of a coastal State, in respect of a maritime claims, wherever arising, is a demonstrable manifestation and an essential attribute of territorial sovereignty. This power is recognised by several international conventions (See the Conventions referred to above. See also Nagendra Singh, International Maritime Conventions, British Shipping Laws, Vol. 4). These conventions contain the unified rules of law drawn from different legal systems. Although many of these conventions have yet to be ratified by India, they embody principles of law recognised by the generality of maritime States, and can therefore be regarded as part of our common law. The want of ratification of these conventions is apparently not because of any policy disagreement, as is clear from active and fruitful Indian participation in the formulation of rules adopted by the conventions, but perhaps because of other circumstances, such as lack of an adequate and specialised machinery for implementation of the various international conventions by co-ordinating for the purpose the Departments concerned of the Government. Such a specialised body of legal and technical experts can facilitate adoption of internationally unified rules by national legislation. It is appropriate that sufficient attention is paid to this aspect of the matter by the authorities concerned. Perhaps the Law Commission of India, endowed as it ought to be with sufficient authority, status and independence, as is the position in England, can render valuable help in this regard. Delay in the adoption of international conventions which are intended to facilitate trade hinders the economic growth of the nation."

In Equilease Corporation Vs. M.V. Sampson [793 F.2d 598] the Court was considering interpretation of Ship Mortgage Act, 46 providing for right to a federal maritime lien to "any person furnishing repairs, supplies, or other necessaries, to any vessel. It was held:

"Equilease next argues that no maritime lien arises in favor of James because insurance is not a "necessary" and therefore neither general admiralty law nor the Act provides a maritime lien for unpaid insurance premiums. Equilease relies on Learned and on Grow v. Steel Gas Screw Lorrains K, 310 F.2d 547 (6th Cir. 1962), for this proposition. The Grow court stated in one sentence without elaboration that there is no federal maritime lien for insurance premiums, 310 F.2d at 549, and went on to grant the plaintiff insurance broker a lien under Michigan state law. Grow is thus not of much aid to us here. We focus instead on Learned."