Agreements to arbitrate supported by the courts

• Discusses two recent judgments where the Privy Council and the Supreme Court emphasised the courts’ support for arbitration and the importance of an international consensus on the interpretation of legislation implementing the New York Convention.

The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention) is the bedrock of the international arbitration system. Signatories (of which there are more than 160) undertake to give effect to an agreement to arbitrate and to recognise and enforce awards made in other states. Article II(3) provides that: ‘The court of a Contracting State, when seized of an action in a matter in respect of which the parties have made an agreement within the meaning of this article, shall, at the request of one of the parties, refer the parties to arbitration, unless it finds that the said agreement is null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed.’

Determining what