Jurisdiction: incorporation of arbitration clauses

Section 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996 requires the court to stay its proceedings if there is an arbitration agreement in writing covering the matter before the court. The meaning of writing is set out in section 5 of the 1996 Act. HHJ Pelling QC in Bony v Kacou and Others [2017] EWHC 2146 (Ch) was required to determine whether the parties had entered into an agreement incorporating a written arbitration clause.

Bony : the facts