Two recent decisions of the Hong Kong courts have looked at important aspects of the law of arbitration. The first decision concerned the scope of an arbitration clause and the second when a party can appeal against an arbitrator’s award.
The Scope of the Clause
On 22 June 2002 the Court of Appeal gave its decision in Lui Man Wai & Another v Chevalier (Hong Kong) Ltd. The court had been asked to decide whether a contract between Lui Man Wai and Chevalier provided for arbitration of a dispute arising out of variations.
Lui Man Wai had started court proceedings suing for, amongst other things, HK$3,176,540 for variations. However, the contract contained a clause providing for arbitration in the following circumstances:
