A Black Swan Event: The Privy Council Clarifies The Law On Freezing Injunctions

On 4 October 2021, a seven-member panel of the Privy Council (the "Board") issued its judgment in Broad Idea v Convoy Collateral [2021] UKPC 24, which considered the overruling by the Court of Appeal of the jurisdiction established in the case of Black Swan Investment ISA v Harvest View Ltd¹ that allowed litigants to bring applications in the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") for freestanding injunctive relief in support of foreign proceedings. 

By a 4:3 majority, the Board affirmed the Black Swan² jurisdiction of the BVI Court (the "Court").  This judgment clarifies the law of freezing injunctions, which had previously taken a wrong turn 44 years prior in the leading judgment of The Siskina³.