Briggs on Brexit

Supreme Court Justice Lord Briggs has offered words of reassurance on the future status of English common law post-Brexit, in a speech published this week. Addressing the P.R.I.M.E. Finance conference in the Netherlands last month, Lord Briggs said: ‘If a main reason for choosing English law is its relative predictability and certainty compared with civil law, then detachment from EU law, which is currently a development from mainly civil systems, ought to fortify those perceived advantages.’ He also suggested arbitration may benefit from Brexit because ‘arbitration awards carry no stamp of origin in any particular national justice system’.