Frank Stewart Dethridge Memorial Address 2005: Anti-Suit Injunctions - Damp Squib or Another Shot in the Maritime Locker?

Abstract

In this address, Justice Williams is inspired by (and also examines) the House of Lords decision in Turner v Grovit [2002] 1 WLR 107, as well as the subsequent rebuff delivered by the European Court of Justice when the case was referred to it to consider whether anti-suit injunctions were consistent with the Brussels Convention ([2004] 1 Lloyd's Rep 216). The theme of the address is that, although the anti-suit injunction must be confined within proper national limits informed by proper regard for international comity and notions of sovereignty, such injunctions may nonetheless have a valuable part to play and, potentially, unrealised potential in maritime law. Justice Williams provides examples of how anti-suit injunctions have been used and discussed in the UK, Australia,  New Zealand, and some other Commonwealth jurisdictions to a lesser extent. Williams concludes that this is an area which, despite principled adherence to the doctrines of sovereignty and comity, should be regarded as ripe for reconsideration in light of the technological and other advances of the changing world, and the altering notions of comity.