Anti-Suit Injunctions in International Arbitration

Anti-suit Injunctions in International Arbitration covers the controversial and emerging topic of anti-suit injunctions issued by courts and arbitral tribunals in both international commercial and investment arbitration. By focusing on the legality and various effects of anti-suit injunctions, it provides for workable solutions for the use of anti-suit injunctions in Continental Europe.

Anti-suit injunctions are essentially provisional measures issued against a party that enjoins the respondent from continuing or filing a suit in another forum by disregarding a valid arbitration agreement made between the parties. Although this work analyzes all aspects of anti-suit injunctions, it also discusses features and problems related to provisional measures in general. It evaluates various aspects of anti-suit injunctions that are not common to the legal systems of many countries in Continental Europe, and analyzes them from the perspective of both Turkish law and comparative law. Virtually all aspects of anti-suit injunctions in international arbitration are addressed, namely:

• the definition, emergence, wording, interpretation, types, and other issues relevant to anti-suit injunctions;
• the legal foundations of anti-suit injunctions in the rules of international arbitration;
• popular cases regarding anti-suit injunctions such as West Tankers, Gazprom etc..;
• the interrelation of anti-suit injunctions with many other doctrines including lis alibi pendens, objection of arbitration, international comity, forum non conveniens, and exorbitant jurisdiction;
• recent types of anti-suit injunctions, namely anti-anti-suit injunctions and anti-enforcement injunctions.

Other areas considered by the author are:

• considers BREXIT’s influence on the use of anti-suit injunctions;
• examines whether it is possible to obtain an anti-suit injunction before the arbitral tribunal is constituted;
• discusses why parties most often obey anti-suit injunctions and considers the motive and reasoning for parties’ voluntary or non-voluntary compliance;
• studies the main criticisms emanating from Continental European legal systems while providing answers and solutions;
• explores whether anti-suit injunctions can be accepted as violating the public policy or constitutional principles of Turkey, which the work views as a primary example of the Continental European legal system; and
• analyzes problematic stipulations of arbitration rules in Civil Law countries in light of the broader goal of reaching the uniform application of anti-suit injunctions in international arbitration and of solving many of its current problems.