London Arbitration 16/95

Practice - Whether arbitration claim should be dismissed for want of prosecution

In April 1993 the Court of Appeal delivered judgment in The Boucraa [1993] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 149 holding that section 13A of the Arbitration Act 1950 (which, for the first time, gave arbitrators jurisdiction to dismiss claims for want of prosecution) did not operate retrospectively when it came into force on 1 January 1992. In December 1993 the House of Lords allowed an appeal and held that it was permissible for arbitrators to have regard to inordinate delay prior to 1 January 1992.