A. Introduction

23.1 An award made in a London maritime arbitration will usually take the form of an order to pay damages or a sum of money, together with costs and interest, to the successful party. This chapter summarises the available methods of enforcing that order should the unsuccessful party fail to comply with it and will focus primarily upon enforcement of an award in England. As a matter of English law an arbitration award, unlike a court judgment, does not of itself entitle the successful party to levy execution against his opponent’s assets. To do so, the award must first be converted to a judgment. There are two methods of effecting that conversion: first, pursuant to the summary procedure contained in section 66 of the 1996 Act, and second (but much less commonly) at common law by means of an “action on the award”. These options are discussed at sections B and C of this chapter.