ABSTRACT
The choice of English court jurisdiction in bills of lading is popular even in bills of lading which have no connection with England. This chapter considers the recent decision of the English Court of Appeal in Compania Sud. Americana De Vapores SA v Hin-Pro International Logistics Ltd. The case illustrates the application of the principle of party autonomy at English common law and the clash between that approach and the approach of the Chinese courts which disregard agreed jurisdiction clauses where the circumstances of the case have little or nothing to do with the agreed jurisdiction. That clash resulted in multiple proceedings in various courts in China, Hong Kong and England with inconsistent judgments on jurisdiction. The chapter also explores the remedies the English court granted in the case in order to try to avoid such a clash: both an anti-suit injunction and damages for breach of an English jurisdiction clause, and considers their effectiveness.
