Jurisdiction

Determining jurisdiction

Law Debenture Trust Corporation plc v Elektrim Finance BV and others [2005] EWHC 1412 (Ch) was yet another case bringing into sharp focus the tension between the right of a party to apply to court for an order that it is not bound by an arbitration clause, and the right of the other party to apply for a stay of the proceedings so that the jurisdictional question can be resolved by the arbitrators. The English authorities are unanimous in refusing to allow the matter to go to arbitration even though the arbitrators have express statutory authority under s30 of the Arbitration Act 1996 to determine their own jurisdiction, albeit on a provisional basis. Mann J in Law Debenture has followed the earlier approach with some enthusiasm.