ABSTRACT
In addition to capture and seizure, the Institute Clauses also refer to “arrest, restraint and detainment”. This is similar to the S.G. Form’s perils of “arrests, restraints, and detainments of all Kings, Princes and people, of what nation, condition or quality soever”. In Rodocanachi v. Elliott, Brett J suggested in argument that “seizure” is a taking possession of goods for the purpose of confiscating them, “arrest” is a taking with the intention of restoring them at one time or other, and “restraint” is preventing the goods from being got away, without laying hands upon them. In Miller v. Law Accident Ins, a government prohibition on the import of diseased cattle, which prevented a cargo entering the port of discharge, was held to be a “restraint” of people, as it was an act of State and not analogous to an arrest to enforce the rights of a private individual. The word “detainment” has a wide commercial meaning.
