Dallah Real Estate and Tourism Holding Company v Ministry of Religious Affairs, Government of Pakistan [2010] UKSC 46, [2010] All ER (D) 36 (Nov)
Supreme Court Lord Hope DP, Lord Saville, Lord Mance, Lord Collins and Lord Clarke, 3 Nov 2010
An English court would be entitled and indeed bound to revisit the question of an arbitral tribunal’s own decision on jurisdiction if the party resisting enforcement sought to prove that there was no arbitration agreement binding upon it under the law of the country where the award was made.
Hilary Heilbron QC and Klaus Reichert (instructed by Kearns & Co) for the claimant. Toby Landau QC (instructed by Watson Farley & Williams) for the defendant.
The claimant entered into an agreement (the agreement) with a trust set up at the behest of the Pakistani government, by which it agreed to develop and construct housing for Pakistani pilgrims.
The defendant, a ministry of the Pakistani government, was not expressed to be a party to the agreement between the claimant and the trust, and it did not sign it in any capacity.
The agreement provided for ICC arbitration
