The existence of contract

It is commonly the case that one party denies that he has entered into any agreement with the other. Such an allegation has the effect of denying the jurisdiction of the arbitrators under any arbitration clause in the agreement as well as denying liability under the agreement itself. It is now settled law that a defence of this type raises both jurisdictional questions (in relation to the arbitration clause) and substantive questions (in relation to the substantive agreement), that the arbitrators may under s30 of the Arbitration Act 1996 resolve the jurisdictional question for themselves and that the losing party may appeal against the arbitrators’ ruling on jurisdiction under s67 of the 1996 Act. Oceanografia SA DE CV v DSND Subsea AS [2006] EWHC 1360 (Comm), a decision of Aikens J, is a fairly typical case in which the arbitrators resolved the jurisdictional question first (thereby indirectly answering the substantive question as to the existence of the agreement) and were challenged under s67.