The Death Of A Black Swan?

The Black Swan theory is a philosophical metaphor for a major and unexpected event, which in turn depends upon an ancient assumption that the Black Swan does not exist. To a BVI lawyer, Black Swan is better known as the jurisdiction which enables the Court to grant injunctive relief in support of foreign proceedings. It represents a departure from the rule in the Siskina¹ that:

A right to obtain an interlocutory injunction is not a cause of action. It cannot stand on its own. It is dependent upon there being a pre-existing cause of action against the Defendant.

The emergence of the jurisdiction

In England, Section 25 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 confers upon the English Court jurisdiction, in the power sense, to act in aid of foreign proceedings, but the major offshore centres were slow to legislate in quite the same way. Judicial innovation resolved the problem in the British Virgin Islands, through Bannister J's decision in Black