This book is the result of a doctoral dissertation undertaken at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg, supported by a scholarship from the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs (IMPRS). This dissertation was written under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Ju¨rgen Basedow, LLM (Harvard University), who was the first to draw my attention to the complexities and various problems relating to judicial sales of ships. I am most grateful for his support, guidance and comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. Some parts of this dissertation have undoubtedly benefited from my internship at Commerzbank, where Dr. Thilo Scholl and Mr. Manfred Quade introduced me to the practical side of judicial sales of ships and gave me various insights in ship finance in general. During the entire course of my research, I also had the opportunity to work as a trainee at Ince & Co LLP (Hamburg), where I was tutored by Dr. Eckehard Volz, Dr. Volker Lu¨cke and Dr. Tim Schommer. The chance of pursuing a doctorate while being able to work on various challenging shipping and insurance matters with such excellent lawyers certainly made the past years a very valuable experience. My stay in Hamburg would not have been the same without the Summer Academy of the International Foundation for the Law of the Sea, as organised by my dear friend Jo K€onig, who introduced me to the IMPRS in the first place. Thank you Jo for all your encouragement throughout my entire study and for giving me the chance to be part of the organisational team of the academy—for 3 years in a row— and being able to build a very strong network with all the participating maritime lawyers across the globe. My sincere thanks also go to my colleagues at the institute and the IMPRS for their encouragement and many inspiring talks. In particular I cherish the often stormy sailing trips on the Alster with Dr. Elke Ludewig, who enthused me to keep moving forward with my dissertation. Also, I would like to thank my friends back in Antwerp, Benoit Mores and Joris Claes, who have always cheered for me and provided me with the necessary distraction