328
Opinion of the Court
Bulkcarriers S. A., 2 Lloyd's Rep. 509.9 Mareva, although acknowledging that the prior case of Lister & Co. v. Stubbs, [1890] 45 Ch. D. 1 (C. A.), said that a court has no power to protect a creditor before he gets judgment,10 relied on a statute giving courts the authority to grant an interlocutory injunction " 'in all cases in which it shall appear to the court to be just or convenient,' " 2 Lloyd's Rep., at 510 (quoting Judicature Act of 1925, Law Reports 1925 (2), 15 & 16 Geo. V, ch. 49, § 45). It held (in the words of Lord Denning) that "[i]f it appears that the debt is due and owing—and there is a danger that the debtor may dispose of his assets so as to defeat it before judgment—the Court has jurisdiction in a proper case to grant an interlocutory judgment so as to prevent him [sic] disposing of those assets." 2 Lloyd's Rep., at 510. The Mareva injunction has now been confirmed by statute. See Supreme Court Act of 1981, § 37, 11 Halsbury's Statutes 966, 1001 (1991 reissue).
Commentators have emphasized that the adoption of Mareva injunctions was a dramatic departure from prior practice.
"Before 1975 the courts would not grant an injunction to restrain a defendant from disposing of his assets pen-9 Apparently the first "Mareva" injunction was actually issued in Nippon Yusen Kaisha v. Karageorgis, [1975] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 137 (C. A.), in which Lord Denning recognized the prior practice of not granting such injunctions, but stated that "the time has come when we should revise our practice." Id., at 138; see also Hetherington, Introduction to the Mareva Injunction, in Mareva Injunctions 1, n. 1 (M. Hetherington ed. 1983). For whatever reason, Mareva has gotten the credit (or blame), and we follow the tradition of leaving Nippon Yusen in the shadows.
10 In Lister & Co. v. Stubbs, 45 Ch. D., at 1, 13, the Court of Appeal held that an injunction restraining the defendant's use of assets could not be issued. Lord Justice Cotton stated: "I know of no case where, because it was highly probable that if the action were brought to a hearing the plaintiff could establish that a debt was due to him from the defendant, the defendant has been ordered to give security until that has been established by the judgment or decree."
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