Abstract
Maritime lien as a specie of claim within the realm of admiralty law is very precarious as what may constitute a maritime lien and its
method of acquisition and enforcement may differ from one jurisdiction to another coupled with the fact that they secretly attach to and migrate with ship from one jurisdiction to another. This precarious nature of maritime lien and lack of uniformity in what act or omission that amounts to a maritime lien to necessitate a claim against a maritime property such as ship or the ship owner has become a source of concern amongst the key stakeholders of the
world’s maritime sector. To this effect, several efforts by the international community aimed at harnessing a uniform framework for the creation, acquisition and enforcement of maritime liens has not been successful and it was against this background that this study
was informed. This paper therefore, thoroughly appraised the creation and acquisition of maritime liens on one hand thereby analyzing what actions or occurrences that give rise to maritime lien and its enforcement on the other hand. Notably, claims such as seaman’s claim for wages, salvage, damage done to a ship or master’s disbursement give rise to maritime liens and they are basically enforced either by an action in personam or in rem under the admiralty jurisdiction.
Key words: Creation, Acquisition, Maritime, Liens, Enforcement
