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Supreme Court of Justice (Portugal) | Separability of the Arbitration Agreement | 06-04-2017 | Case #053

Supreme Court of Justice
Date: 06-04-2017
Case Nr. 416/16.0YRLSB.S1
LINK DGSI

Headline:

Where an arbitration agreement is an integral part of a contract, and that contract has not received necessary signature, the arbitration agreement is non-existent despite its autonomy.  

 

Summary:

  1. Where there is a breach of the rules of substantive jurisdiction, in particular of arbitral tribunals in relation to judicial tribunals, recourse to the Supreme Court of Justice on jurisdiction is always admissible.
  2. Since the arbitration agreement is an integral part of the contract of employment and since it has not been formally granted as legally required, the arbitration agreement is non-existent and not binding, despite the recognition of its autonomy.
  3. In the absence of an arbitration agreement, an arbitral tribunal has no material jurisdiction to hear the dispute.

 

This case summary was kindly prepared by Sameer Thakur (sameerthakur@live.in, NALSAR University of Law), Rishabh Raheja, (rishabharaheja@gmail.com, NALSAR University of Law), and Abhishek Babbar (abhishekbabbar1996@gmail.com).