The slip rule in Scotland and failure to exhaust jurisdiction


In NKT Cables A/S v SP Power Systems Ltd [2017] CSOH 38 Lady Wolffe held that Regulation 22A of the amended Scheme for Construction Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/667) did not apply to the adjudication between the parties because the contract between the parties had been entered into prior to the coming into force of the amendment. However, she held that there was to be implied into the contract between the parties a limited power on the part of the adjudicator to correct typographical or clerical errors of something expressed within the four corners of the decision and which were apparent on the face of the decision. This jurisdiction extended to some but not all of the corrections made by the adjudicator. To the extent that the corrections made were beyond the scope of the slip rule the defender was entitled to challenge enforcement of the decision. It was also held that the adjudicator had failed to exhaust his jurisdiction in so far as he had failed to give proper consideration to all but one of the substantive defences relied upon by the defender.