Arbitration

Unless the Arbitration Act 1996 required a different conclusion, the negative aspect of a London arbitration agreement that neither party would seek relief within the scope of the arbitration agreement in any other forum parties was a right enforceable independently of the existence or imminence of any arbitral proceedings. Where an injunction was sought to restrain foreign proceedings in breach of an arbitration agreement—whether on an interim or a final basis and whether at a time when arbitral proceedings were or are not on foot or proposed—the source of the power to grant such an injunction was to be found not in s 44 of the 1996 Act, but in s 37 of the Senior Courts Act 1981. Such an injunction was not “for the purposes of and in relation to arbitral proceedings”, but for the purposes of and in relation to the negative promise contained in the arbitration agreement not to bring foreign proceedings, which applied and was