My understanding is that suing in rem began with ships, since they are quite valuable and movable at the same time. Thus, ships can be sued and arrested to prev

My understanding is that suing in rem began with ships, since they are quite valuable and movable at the same time. Thus, ships can be sued and arrested to prevent the asset from being removed from the jurisdiction. It has been expanded considerably since those simpler times, mostly I think to benefit the coffers of government agencies that could not convince legislators to provide them with bigger budgets.