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These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.  














Arbitration - From: 1930 To: 1959

This page lists 11 cases, and was prepared on 03 April 2018.

 
FR Absalom Limited v Great Western (London) Garden Village Society Ltd [1933] AC 592; [1933] All ER 616
1933
HL
Lord Russell of Killowen
Arbitration
Where the matter referred to the arbitrator for decision involves the application of the law or the interpretation of a contract on the basis of undisputed facts, then that would be a reference of a specific question of law.
Lord Russell of Killowen said: "My Lords, it is, I think, essential to keep the case where disputes are referred to an arbitrator in the decision of which a question of law becomes material distinct from the case in which a specific question of law has been referred to him for decision. I am not sure that the Court of Appeal has done so. The authorities make a clear distinction between these two cases, and, as they appear to me, they decide that in the former case the Court can interfere if and when any error of law appears on the face of the award, but that in the latter case no such interference is possible upon the ground that it so appears that the decision upon the question of law is an erroneous one".
Arbitration Act 1892

 
Stotesbury v Turner [1943] KB 370
1943


Litigation Practice, Arbitration
Without prejudice negotiations are, as a matter of public policy, to be protected from disclosure to the court seized of the dispute. An arbitrator has the same discretion as to costs as has a High Court judge.
1 Cites

1 Citers



 
 Racecourse Betting Control Board v Secretary of State for Air; 1944 - [1944] Ch 114
 
Panamena Europea Navigacion v Frederick Leyland and Co [1947] AC 428
1947
HL
Lord Thankerton
Construction, Arbitration
The parties had entered into an agreement providing for arbitration of any disputes. Lord Thankerton said: "By entering into the contract the respondents agreed that the appellant's surveyor should discharge both these duties and therefore they cannot claim that the appellant's surveyor must be in the position of an independent arbitrator, who has no other duty which involves acting in the interests of one of the parties."
and "Dr Telfer declined to proceed with the matter unless he was provided with the information to which, on his erroneous view of the contract, he held himself entitled; in this view the Appellants concurred, and this position was maintained up to and after the issue of the writ. This means an illegitimate condition precedent to any consideration of the granting of a certificate was insisted on by Dr. Telfer and by the Appellants. It is almost unnecessary to cite authority to establish that such conduct on the Appellants' part absolved the Respondents from the necessity of obtaining such a certificate, and that the Respondents are entitled to recover the amount claimed in the action."
and "The view of the function of the appellant surveyor under clause 7 of the contract which I have already expressed, makes it clear beyond dispute that the Respondents have done everything which was necessary for them to do in order to require Dr. Telfer to proceed to consider the granting of a certificate under clause 7, but that Dr. Telfer declined to proceed with the matter unless he was provided with the information to which, on his erroneous view of the contract, he held himself entitled; in this view the Appellants concurred, and this position was maintained up to and after the issue of the writ. This means an illegitimate condition precedent to any consideration of the granting of a certificate was insisted on by Dr. Telfer and by the Appellants. It is almost unnecessary to cite authority to establish that such conduct on the Appellants' part absolved the Respondents from the necessity of obtaining such a certificate, and that the Respondents are entitled to recover the amount claimed in the action."
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
WT Lamb and Sons v Rider [1948] 2 KB 331; [1948] 2 All ER 402
1948
CA
Scott LJ and Romer J
Arbitration, Limitation
An interlocutory order is generally not regarded as final in the sense of barring a further application on the ground of res judicata: "Execution is essentially a matter of procedure - machinery which the Court can, subject to the rules from time to time in force, operate for the purpose of enforcing its judgments or orders." The right to sue on a judgment is a matter quite distinct from the right to issue execution under it.
Limitation Act 1939
1 Citers


 
Chandris v Isbrandtsen-Moller Co Inc [1951] KB 240; (1950) 84 Ll LR 347
1950
CA
Devlin J, Tucker LJ
Arbitration, Damages
The court considered whether an arbitrator could award interest in circumstances where section 3 of the 1934 Act expressly conferred such a power on ‘the court’ in proceedings tried in a ‘court of record’. Held: Although section 3(1) of the Act of 1934, by its terms, empowered only courts of record to include interest in sums for which judgment was given for damages or debt, arbitrators were nevertheless empowered by the agreement of reference to apply English law, including so much of that law as is to be found in section 3(1) of the Act of 1934.
Tucker LJ said that he had jurisdiction, not under the 1934 Act, but because the submission to him necessarily gave him implied powers, including implied power to exercise “every right and discretionary remedy given to a court of law”.
Devlin J said: "A rule of construction cannot be more than a guide to enable the court to arrive at the true meaning of the parties."
Devlin J discussed the ejusdem generis rule of interpretation, saying: "Moreover, the main argument of construction which justifies the application of the rule does not apply in commercial documents. It is that if the general words have an unrestricted meaning the enumerated items are surplusage. The presumption against surplusage is of little value in ascertaining the intention of the parties to commercial documents, as many great commercial judges have recognized."
Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934 3(1)
1 Citers


 
Hoenig v Isaacs [1952] EWCA Civ 6; [1952] 1 TLR 1360; [1952] 2 All ER 176
13 Feb 1952
CA
Somervell, Denning, Romer LJJ
Arbitration
Appeal against award of Official Referee.
[ Bailii ]

 
 Dean v Prince; 1953 - [1953] 2 All ER 636; [1953] Ch 590
 
Taylor v Barnet [1953] 1 WLR 562
1953
CA
Lord Denning MR
Arbitration
"an arbitrator has no jurisdiction or authority to award damages on an illegal contract"
1 Citers


 
London Export Corporation v Jubilee Coffee Roasting Co Ltd [1958] 1 WLR 271
1958

Diplock J
Arbitration
The court considered any discretion not to enforce a valid arbitration award: "When the arbitration agreement has been construed and no breach of the agreed procedure found there may nevertheless arise a second and quite separate question: that is, whether, as a matter of public policy, a particular award, made pursuant to that agreed procedure, ought not to be enforced and ought, therefore, to be set aside; for an arbitrator's award, unless set aside, entitles the beneficiary to call upon the executive power of the State to enforce it, and it is the function of the court to see that that executive power is not abused."
1 Citers


 
Margulies Brothers Ltd v Dafnis Thomaides and Co (UK) Ltd [1958] 1 WLR 398
1958

Diplock J
Arbitration
A court has power to amend an award to put it into a form which is enforceable.
1 Citers


 
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