Timothy Carlisle & Christian Hay provide an update on the choice of law jurisdiction made by agreement
Commercial contracts are increasingly encountered that are governed by the laws and courts of a jurisdiction far removed from the locus of the parties, or of the dispute.
And whether inside or outside the EU and Convention countries it is necessary first to pay close attention to what the parties agreed as to jurisdiction; and then, where applicable, to have regard to the impact of the Judgments Regulation, or the 1968 (Brussels) or Lugano Conventions (which this article does not consider).
A matter of perception
There has been a perception gathered and growing from the cases since the early 1990s onwards, that there is not much difference in result between a non-exclusive jurisdiction clause and an exclusive jurisdiction clause where the courts are deciding a jurisdictional dispute argued initially on common law contractual choice of law grounds.
This has been particularly the case when the English courts have been asked to uphold their own jurisdiction; where proceedings have been first commenced abroad despite an
