What we’ve been reading

Law

Jurisdiction of state courts over arbitral proceedings

as set out in Enka v. Chubb, [2020] EWCA Civ 574. For the entire judgment, click here
and
set out in an appeal against the setting aside of a notice of discontinuance granted by the High Court: Stati & Ors v. Republic of Kazakhstan, [2018] EWCA Civ 1896. For the entire judgment, click here
and
Financial Times article commenting on the P&ID v. Nigeria arbitral proceedings. For the full article (paywall), click here.

Public policy

The finding that English and Dutch courts may differ on what constitutes public policy in a major Yukos Capital v. OJSC Rosneft Oil Company case heard by the English Court of Appeal: [2012] EWCA Civ 855. For the entire judgment, click here.

Frustration

The English common law principle of frustration invoked by the European Medicine’s Agency’s reliance on it when, under the impetus of Brexit, it sought to terminate its London lease prematurely: Canary Wharf & Ors v. European Medicines Agency, [2019] EWHC 335 (Ch]. For the entire judgment, click here.

(For reasons of client confidentiality, only non-Dutch cases are mentioned.)

Translation

Umberto Eco’s “Mouse or Rat?: Translation as Negotiation”. An analysis of translation written by a leading semiotician and novelist. His opening observation that the only certain, unprofessional evaluation of the quality of a translation is where the length of the one is entirely disproportionate to the other triggers fascinating insights. To be expected from the author of “The Name of the Rose”.

The 2011 quatercentenary of the most celebrated translation in the English-speaking world of the Bible saw a flush of books on the subject, including “The King James Bible After 400 Years: Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Influences”. Perhaps the only example of peerless creativity coming from a committee, the technique was simple, so a contemporary reported:
“That part of the Bible was given to him who was most excellent in such a tongue …and then they met together; and one read the translation, the rest holding in their hands some Bible of the learned tongues, or French, Spanish, Italian etc; if they found any fault they spoke, if not they read on.”