Williams & Glyn’s Bank PLC v. Astodinamico Compania Naviera S.A. - House of Lords (Lord Fraser, Lord Edmund-Davies, Lord Bridge, Lord Brandon and Lord Templeman) - 1 March 1984

Whether court should decide question of jurisdiction before considering application for stay

The plaintiff bank wished to enforce certain guarantees purportedly given on behalf of the defendants, who were Greek owned Panamanian companies. The defendants contended that the guarantees were null and void because the persons who had signed them had not been authorized to do so, and the documents which had been used to persuade the plaintiffs to accept those persons as authorized to sign on behalf of the defendants were forged. The defendants had already commenced proceedings in Greece seeking declarations that the guarantees were void and of no effect.