ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the liability for wrongful arrest is construed in three European legal systems, two of the northerly group, i.e. Germany and The Netherlands, and one of the southerly group, France. Dutch law was only included because of my personal knowledge and experience with this legal system, but also in view of the great practical importance of the generous facility to arrest ships in The Netherlands. The arrest of a movable or immovable thing takes place if one has to assume that without it the enforcement of a judgment would be rendered impossible substantially more difficult. However, if the factual circumstances changed after the arrest was made, e.g. because of assignment or settlement of the claim, then this does not invalidate an otherwise validly ordered arrest. French law is fairly liberal in allowing conservatory arrests of ships. In the words of Rodière, conservatory arrest is equally frequent and even commonplace, as enforcement through a public auction is rare.
