December 4, 2019 marked the sixth National Constitution Day of China. On this day, Haikou Maritime Court initiated an enforcement campaign to crack the chronic problem of difficult enforcement and to reinforce the authority of the constitution and law. The enforcement team, with members coming from the Enforcement Division and court police, was led the Vice President Chen Xiangzhi, who made a pep talk before the commencement of the campaign. Eventually, two “maritime injunctions” were enforced, and site investigations in relation to four cases were conducted, upon which the disputing parties in three cases agreed to make settlement.

Vessel was released to assert the authority of the court’s judgment

Recently, Mai and Wu complained that although the court had affirmed their ownership of a vessel under a case of dispute over ship building contract with a ship engineering company, the ship engineering company and shipyard had been preventing them from taking the ship. Given that the ship was exposed to weather and gave rise to huge losses, the claimants therefore applied for maritime injunction and requested the court to order the respondent to release the ship. The court made a ruling to uphold the lawful request of the claimants and transferred the case to enforcement division for further handling.

The two cases were highly sensitive as many parties were involved and the great tensions between them might give rise to group protest. Moreover, the shifting of vessel required professional operations which must take into account of the tides and pilotage conditions. Chen Xiangzhi, the Party Group member and Vice President of the court, was in charge of the enforcement action. A collegial bench was formed to handle the cases according to a deliberate plan which was made based on the site investigations done in earlier time. In the morning of December 14, the enforcement team arrived at the ship engineering company, and the judges delivered the maritime injunction and other instruments to the shipyard and gave explanation on the relevant laws and regulations. The judges also told the respondent how to protect its rights and interests during the period when the ship was under its custody, and how to make claims according to law. The shipyard finally agreed to act on the court’s arrangements.

After the judges posted the enforcement announcement on the ship, workers employed by the claimants started to shift the vessel. The judges also made further arrangements to secure the shifting operations. So far, enforcement of the maritime injunction ended in a satisfactory conclusion.

Mediation procured settlement on site

On the same day, another enforcement team arrived at the neighborhood of Jinfucheng to handle three loan contract disputes. The judges made investigations on the houses in dispute, collected evidence, and inquired the property management company to get a whole picture of the situations. The judges then called the parities for further negotiation. Upon mediation, the parties agreed to dispose of the houses as soon as possible. The party subject to enforcement agreed to clear its belongings from the houses, and the applicant agreed to give grace in installation or extension of payment. The parties finally agreed to settle the cases and signed on the enforcement settlement records. The patient and meticulous work of the team was highly recognized. Meanwhile, a third enforcement team arrived at Liangyuan Yayuan neighborhood to make site investigations on a real estate involved in another loan contract dispute. The investigation was also a successful one.