Arbitration agreements

Unilateral arbitration clauses

A clause which provides that one party to a contract may take disputes to arbitration, but which does not confer any such right on the other party, has in the past been held to be an arbitration clause. There is no need for mutuality in the right to seek arbitration. The point was confirmed by the Court of Appeal in Pittalis v Sherefettin [1986] 2 All ER 227. The decision has been applied by Morison J in NB Three Shipping Ltd v Harebell Shipping Ltd [2004] EWHC 2001 (Comm), and has been extended to the situation in which the party not entitled to seek arbitration had earlier commenced judicial proceedings.