Arbitration Law Monthly

In Alexander Brothers Ltd (Hong Kong SAR) v Alstom Transport SA [2020] EWHC 814 (Comm) the defendants sought procedural orders for the admission of evidence of French law to assist them in their argument that enforcement of a Swiss award under the New York Convention would be contrary to public policy under section 103(3) of the Arbitration Act 1996.

The Supreme Court has by a 3:2 majority (Lords Kerr, Hamblen and Leggatt, Lords Burrows and Sales dissenting) in Enka Insaat ve Sanayi AS v OOO “Insurance Company Chubb” [2020] UKSC 38 approved the decision, albeit not all of the reasoning, of the Court of Appeal on two matters crucial to the operation of the curial jurisdiction of the English court under the Arbitration Act 1996, namely: how is the law applicable to an arbitration clause to be determined; and in what circumstances will an English court exercise its power to grant an anti-suit injunction where the seat of the arbitration is in England?