Jurisdiction

The existence of an arbitration clause

Anglia Oils Ltd v The Owners/Demise Charterers of the Vessel Marine Champion [2002] EWHC 2407 (Admlty) is a further illustration of the problems faced by the English courts where an action is brought in the courts in apparent contravention of an arbitration clause and, in response to an application for the stay of the proceedings, it is asserted that the arbitration clause is invalid. Gross J in the present case took the usual course of determining the existence of the agreement to arbitrate for himself rather than leaving the matter to the arbitrators