1 INTRODUCTION

Although the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court is very wide (see Chapter 1), there are certain limits and restrictions that the court will consider in exercising its discretion to determine its own jurisdiction. For example, as mentioned in Chapter 1, para 6, the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court cannot be assumed in circumstances provided by the Crown Immunity Act 1947 and the State Immunity Act 1978. Convention rules or other doctrines also restrict the scope of exercising or maintaining jurisdiction on the merits of a case, as will be seen in this chapter and in Chapter 7. On the other hand, the court may, by an anti-suit injunction, restrain a litigant from continuing proceedings commenced in a foreign court (which is not a court of a Member State of the Brussels I Regulation), if there are grounds for protecting rights, or asserting its own jurisdiction (see Chapter 8). In this chapter, the circumstances in which the court will dismiss proceedings or decline jurisdiction and stay the proceedings on grounds of forum non-conveniens or a valid foreign jurisdiction, or arbitration, agreement are examined. This chapter, in particular, contains many important new decisions and highlights how important it is for lawyers to manage litigation and arbitration risks with care for their clients.