Section 2 of Admiralty Act : Section 2: Definitions

Explanation using Example

Imagine a scenario where a shipping company based in Mumbai has a dispute with a cargo owner over damage to goods transported by one of their vessels from Chennai to Dubai. The cargo owner claims that the goods were damaged due to improper handling and storage on the vessel. They decide to file a maritime claim for compensation against the shipping company.

In this situation, the cargo owner would approach the High Court of Bombay to initiate an admiralty proceeding. The High Court, exercising its admiralty jurisdiction as defined in the Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act, 2017, would hear the case. If the court finds merit in the cargo owner's claim, it might order the arrest of the vessel when it next enters Indian territorial waters to secure the maritime claim.

The term "arrest" here refers to the detention of the vessel by the court's order, and the "goods" in question include the cargo that was damaged. The High Court of Bombay is one of the courts mentioned in the Act that can exercise admiralty jurisdiction in such matters. The vessel in this context includes the ship that transported the cargo, and the territorial waters refer to the Indian maritime zone where the court's order can be enforced.