§31342 — Title 46 Shipping | U.S. Code

Summary

If the owner or someone the owner allows orders necessary supplies or services for a ship, the supplier gets a legal claim against that ship. The supplier can sue the ship itself to enforce that claim and does not have to say or prove that it extended credit to the ship. It does not apply to public (government) vessels.

Title 46, §31342

Shipping — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a person providing necessaries to a vessel on the order of the owner or a person authorized by the owner—

(1)has a maritime lien on the vessel;

(2)may bring a civil action in rem to enforce the lien; and

(3)is not required to allege or prove in the action that credit was given to the vessel.

(b)This section does not apply to a public vessel.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised sectionSource section (U.S. Code) 3134246:971 section 31342 provides that any authorized person providing necessaries for a vessel has a maritime lien on the vessel, may bring a civil action in rem in admiralty to enforce the lien, and is not required to allege or prove that credit was given to the vessel. “Providing” has been substituted for “furnishing” for consistency with other laws. This section makes no substantive change to law. This section does not supersede the prohibition under the Public Vessels Act, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, or the Suits in Admiralty Act, on bringing an in rem action against a public vessel.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1989—Pub. L. 101–225 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), substituted “Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a person providing necessaries to a vessel on the order of the owner” for “A person providing necessaries to a vessel (except a public vessel) on the order of a person listed in section 31341 of this title”, and added subsec. (b).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Jan. 1, 1989, with certain exceptions and qualifications, see section 107 of Pub. L. 100–710, set out as a note under section 31301 of this title.

§31342 Establishing maritime liens