This was an appeal in cassation against the judgment of the Rouen Court of Appeal, 17 November 1994. In order to force the Angolan company Importang, of which it was a judgment creditor, to pay it the sum due, Recofi arrested the ship Secil X in Rouen. The ship belonged to the Angolan company Secil Y. Secil Y objected to the ship's arrest.

Held: Cassation.

In terms of art 4 of the Arrest Convention 1952, read together with art 29 of Decree N° 67-967 of 27 October 1967 relating to the status of ships and other sea vessels, precautionary seizure of a ship is not permitted without the preliminary authorisation of the Judge. Failing this, the ship arrest is null and void.

With regard to art 2092 of the Civil Code, the general right of pledge resulting from this provision for the benefit of creditors only relates to the debtor's own assets. The control of a State over a legal person, as well as the public service mission devolved on it, are not sufficient to deem it to be an emanation of the State, thereby implying its assimilation to the State and to other bodies placed in the same situation as it has in relation to that State. Nevertheless, to validate the disputed seizure, the Court of Appeal judgment holds that Importang and Secil Y are both controlled by the Republic of Angola, that they exercise complementary activities and have common interests, that Importang manages all the import operations of this country, while Secil Y has a monopoly on the conclusion of charter contracts for all of these operations, and that therefore they do not enjoy patrimonial autonomy. Such reasons are unfit to establish that Secil Y did not have its own assets distinct from that of Importang.

For these reasons, the judgment under appeal is struck down and annulled in its entirety, the case and parties are returned to the position they were in before the aforementioned judgment, and the matter is referred to the Douai Court of Appeal to be decided correctly.