CASE # 142
Porto Court of Appeal
Case No.
200/24.8T8PVZ.P1
Date: 11 December 2024
Link to DGSI website HERE
Keywords: State Court Jurisdiction | Kompetenz-Kompetenz | Interpretation of Arbitration Agreements
Summary:
I. An arbitration agreement reflects the parties’ will to submit disputes either to arbitrators for an existing conflict (submission agreement) or for future disputes arising from their legal relationship (arbitration clause).
II. An arbitration agreement produces both a positive and a negative effect. The positive effect lies in granting either party the right to constitute an arbitral tribunal competent to resolve the disputes covered by the agreement. The negative effect lies in excluding state courts from adjudicating those disputes.
III. An arbitration agreement is subject to the general rules of interpretation of juridical acts, under Articles 236 and 238 of the Civil Code, and must be construed according to the meaning that a normally diligent, astute, and experienced person would attribute in light of the wording of the declaration and all the circumstances within the addressee’s concrete horizon — that is, what the addressee actually knew and could reasonably be expected to know.
IV. In view of the principle set out in Article 18(1) of the Portuguese Arbitration Law, under which it is primarily for the arbitral tribunal to rule on its own jurisdiction, including the validity, effectiveness, and applicability of the arbitration agreement to the dispute, state courts should only dismiss the plea of breach of arbitration agreement and allow the case to proceed before them when it is manifest and incontrovertible that the arbitration agreement is invalid, ineffective, or unenforceable, or that the dispute is plainly outside its scope of application.
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