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Contracting parties may believe that the inclusion of an exclusive jurisdiction clause in their agreement binds them to conduct any subsequent contractual disputes in the courts of the country they have specified. However, two recent decisions indicate that, at least in Europe, this may no longer be the case. Now read on…

It is common for commercial agreements concluded today to contain an exclusive jurisdiction clause, specifying the governing law and the national courts to whose jurisdiction the parties agree they will submit in the event of disputes subsequently arising. Since the leading decision of Continental Bank v Aeakos [1994] 1 WLR 588, the English Courts have generally been willing to impose "anti-suit" injunctions on any party flouting such a clause by attempting to litigate a dispute elsewhere, if the clause in question bestows exclusive jurisdiction upon the English Courts. The effect of such injunctions is to restrain any party subject to the jurisdiction of