Introduction

Since its inception in 1895, the Commercial Court has been concerned with matters arising in relation to commercial arbitrations held in London and elsewhere in England and Wales. Until 1979 the great majority of commercial arbitrations held in England were either maritime arbitrations arising under arbitration clauses in charterparties, bills of lading or contracts for the sale or building of ships or commodity contract arbitrations arising under the arbitration clauses in standard form commodity sales contracts. An overtly interventionist approach by the court was reversed by the abolition of the special case procedure and associated changes wrought by the Arbitration Act 1979. As a result, an increasing number of international arbitrations in other fields (especially insurance) have also been held in London, and the popularity of arbitration continues to grow.