海事诉讼时效中断制度之立法完善研究——以船舶“活扣”为视角

Consideration on the Perfection of Prescription Period Interruption Institution in Maritime Lawsuit——From the Perspective of Formal Seizure of Ships

"申请扣船"是我国《海商法》规定的导致海事诉讼时效中断的四项法定事由之一。扣船包括船舶实际扣押("死扣")及形式扣押("活扣"),二者在法律属性、保全目的以及法律依据上都有区别。"死扣"属于海事请求保全,导致诉讼时效中断,"活扣"属于民事财产保全,能否导致诉讼时效中断存在争议。本文从诉讼时效的目的、"活扣"的司法功能等角度,建议在修订我国《海商法》时明确将船舶"活扣"作为导致海事诉讼时效中断的法定事由。

Arrest of ships is one of the four legal reasons for the lapse of maritime lawsuits as stipulated in the Maritime Law.In practice,arrest of ships includes the actual seizure of ships and the formal seizure of ships,which are different in legal attributes,preservation purposes and legal basis.The dead arrest is a maritime claim preservation,which leads to the interruption of the statute of limitations.The live arrest is a civil property preservation,and whether it can lead to the interruption of the statute of limitations is controversial.From the perspective of the purpose of statute of limitations and the judicial function of live arrest,this paper suggests that the live arrest of the ships should be explicitly used as the legal cause for the lapse of maritime lawsuits when the maritime law is amended.