Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Arbitration definition

What does Arbitration mean? Arbitration is a private process where parties resolve disputes by one or more arbitrators who issue a final, binding award instead of a court judgment. It is consensual, usually agreed by an arbitration clause, and the law of the seat governs the procedure (lex arbitri). In England and Wales and Northern Ireland, the Arbitration Act 1996 applies. Courts stay court proceedings in favour of arbitration, provide support, and enforce awards; challenges are limited to lack of jurisdiction (s.67), serious irregularity (s.68) and, unless excluded, appeal on a point of law (s.69). In Scotland, the Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010 provides a similar...

Arbitration-related proceedings against states in England and Wales: State Immunity Act 1978 exceptions, enforcement, execution, injunctions, separate entities and service

Published by a LexisNexis Arbitration expert

Practice notes

State immunity from civil proceedings in the courts of the UK

This Practice Note considers state immunity in civil claims before UK courts, with a focus on matters linked to arbitration. The default position (subject to exceptions) is that states are not amenable to the jurisdiction of the UK courts. As a result, questions of state immunity may surface where a party issues a court application against a state to:

challenge or appeal an arbitral award
enforce an award, or
seek an injunction in support of an arbitration

The principal statutory regime is the State Immunity Act 1978 (SIA 1978). This Practice Note summarises the SIA 1978 and sets out how it has been applied to court proceedings connected with arbitration. Although the SIA 1978 applies across the UK (including Northern Ireland), the authorities cited in this Practice Note are drawn from the courts of England and Wales. The Practice Note uses ‘England’ and ‘English’ as a convenient shorthand.

Consistent with the taxonomy of the SIA 1978, the term ‘state immunity’ is adopted; however, practitioners should note that ‘sovereign immunity’ is sometimes used to describe the same concept. For an introduction to state immunity...

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Sudhanshu Swaroop , QC

Twenty Essex

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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