ARRESTMENT FOR FOUNDING JURISDICTION

ARRESTMENT FOR FOUNDING JURISDICTION is a procedure in Scots law, by which a foreigner, or other debtor abroad, who is not subject to the jurisdiction of the Scottish courts, but who has movable property in Scotland, may be made subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Session. By the Sheriff Courts Act, 1877, foreigners may be sued in the sheriff courts also, if a ship, in which the foreigner is interested, has been arrested within the sheriffdom. In the ordinary case, what is attached is money due to the foreigner, and any sum, however small, and any movable, if of appreciable value, is sufficient. The procedure is therefore one liable to great abuse; it should not be extended beyond the convenience of trade, on which the custom was originally based in the Netherlands. In practice it has been extended to all claims of a pecuniary nature, but not to actions relative to status. The practice must be treated as an exception to the general rule that a pursuer should go to the court of his debtor's residence. The only equivalent in England is the custom of foreign attachment in the city of London. Heritable property in Scotland is a distinct ground of jurisdiction against foreigners without special procedure.