Appeals on a Point of Law in the English Courts: Further Restrictions
The judgment in the case of Mary Harvey v. Motor Insurer’s Bureau (QBD (Merc) (Manchester), Claim No: 0MA40077, 21 December 2011) just before Christmas provided another opportunity for the English courts to rule on their ability to consider appeals on a point of law.
This controversial power, retained in the UK’s Arbitration Act notwithstanding its absence from most other national legal systems, has often been criticised. Perhaps for this reason, the trend of the English courts in recent years has been increasingly to restrict its application. This latest, fully reasoned, judgment is no exception.
The Claimant, Mary Harvey, was a victim of a road traffic accident, and applied to the Motor In [...]
Declaratory award held enforceable by English court: a healthy move for arbitration?
- By Phillip Capper, White & Case LLP,
for White & Case
Following the path of the hotly debated West Tankers decision, in African Fertilizers v BD Shipsnavo, the English Commercial Court held that a declaratory award is enforceable, allowing judgment to be entered on the same terms as the arbitral award. Such an order enables a party to obtain the material benefit of the award and indicates the continuing trend of the English courts in favour of arbitration and the enforcement of arbitral awards. However, this approach does raise questions for the health of the inter-twining co-existence of the arbitration and court systems.
The declaratory award (on the tribunal’s jurisdiction) was made pursuant to an arbitration agreement contained in a bi [...]
Jivraj v Hashwani: A Pro-Choice, Corrective Ruling from the Supreme Court
In this post, we will first deal briefly with the facts in the case of Jivraj v Hashwani and the findings of the first instance judge and the Court of Appeal, which by now would be very familiar to anyone reading this blog. We will then look at the Supreme Court’s judgment ([2011] UKSC 40), in particular its observations on the “genuine occupational requirement” (GOR) issue (discussed below) which robustly support the broad autonomy of the parties inherent in consensual arbitration to appoint decision makers with an understanding of their legal systems, social traditions and commercial background.
The dispute arose out of an arbitration clause in a joint venture agreement which provided for [...]
An anti-suit injunction to protect a non-existent arbitration
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales ruled last month that where parties have entered into an arbitration agreement, one party can obtain an anti-suit injunction to prevent the other party from initiating proceedings in a foreign court, even where no arbitration is underway or indeed even contemplated.
In AES Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant LLP v Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant JSC [2011] EWCA Civ 647, the claimant was a Kazakh subsidiary of a US energy company and operator under a concession agreement with the Kazakh owner, a company deriving its rights from the State. In an earlier dispute, the Kazakh Supreme Court had ruled that the arbitration clause (providing for a seat in Londo [...]
Is It Time to Amend the Articles Regulating Arbitration in Qatar?
There are two legal jurisdictions in Qatar with laws containing specific provisions related to arbitration: the State of Qatar and the Qatar Financial Center (the “QFC”). The latter is a separate jurisdiction with its own laws within the state. The QFC Law provides for the arbitration of commercial disputes in relation to contracts that have been concluded under QFC Law. The QFC has set Arbitration Regulations in 2005, which are based on the UNCITRAL Model Law; however, until today there were no cases trialed under the QFC Rules.
Until today there is no independent arbitration law in Qatar. Articles 190-210 of Law No 13 of 1990 The Civil and Commercial Code of Procedure (the “CCP”) r [...]
Costa Rica Has A New Arbitration Law
Costa Rica has a new Arbitration Law, which is based on the 2006 version of the UNCITRAL Model Law. The relative speed with which the new Arbitration Law was adopted came as a surprise to many. Only a few months ago, at the Second International Arbitration Congress organized by the ICC Costa Rica in San José on 23 February, several colleagues from Costa Rica had predicted that adoption of the Law would probably take many more months or even years. Instead, Congress passed the Law only a month later and it entered into force on 25 May 2011, the date of its official publication.
As a result of the enactment of the new Arbitration Law, international arbitrations are no longer gov [...]
