AN APPRAISAL OF THE CONCEPT OF ANTI-SUIT INJUNCTION IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

Abstract

The fundamental effect of a valid arbitration agreement is to confer jurisdiction on the arbitration tribunal to decide the dispute between the parties. Consequently, a positive obligation is imposed on the parties to submit their dispute to arbitration pursuant to the arbitration agreement and participate in good faith in the resolution of their disputes by arbitration. Thus, there may be cases where a party may require an injunction restraining the other party from instituting an action in violation of an arbitration agreement or continuing one already instituted. While anti-suit injunctions may not engender controversies in domestic arbitrations where a party institutes or intends to institute an action in national courts, the situation is different in international arbitration since such an injunction may be considered as an interference with the judicial process of a foreign sovereign state. This paper examines the grant of anti-suit injunctions in common law jurisdictions and international law concerns of comity affecting the grant of anti-suit injunctions. The paper considers the recent decision of the English Commercial Court in Specialised Vessel Services Ltd v Mop Marine Nigeria Limited. It concludes that anti-suit injunctions are desirable to protect arbitration agreements in both international and domestic arbitrations.

Keywords: Anti-suit injunction, Arbitration, Courts, Arbitration agreements, Common law.