Claims in contract and tort in English law

For more guidance on claims, causes of action and remedies in English law beyond the Practice Notes below, see the Dispute Resolution module.

Contract interpretation

Interpreting contracts—the guiding principles

This Practice Note summarises the principles applied when interpreting the meaning of contracts, starting with Lord Hoffman’s dicta in Investors Compensation Scheme, ie the objective test (reasonable person), the relevance of background knowledge and the factual matrix, the exclusion of previous negotiations and subjective intent, and the natural and ordinary meaning of words and the specific words used.

See Practice Note: Contract interpretation—the guiding principles.

Rules of contract interpretation

This Practice Note considers key cases (Rainy Sky v Kookmin, Arnold v Britton, Wood v Capita) and specific rules including: whole of the document relevant, commercial common sense (business common sense), avoiding an unreasonable result, saving the document, consistency of terms, standard and printed terms and general and special conditions, mistakes, contra proferentem, ejusdem generis and NOM clauses (No Oral Modification Clauses).

See Practice Note: Contract interpretation—rules of contract interpretation.

Contract

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Latest Arbitration News

Arbitration weekly highlights—19 February 2026

This week's edition of Arbitration weekly highlights includes: coverage of arbitration-related decisions from England and Wales, the USA and the Cayman Islands, as well as updates from the ICC, HKIAC and ICSID. In addition, LexisNexis Middle East has published a whitepaper on ‘Navigating the Digital Scale of Justice: Ethics & AI’. All this, and more, in our weekly highlights.

Morocco VYAP announces publication of French translation of Dahir promulgating Law 95-17

Morocco Very Young Arbitration Practitioners (Morocco VYAP) has announced that the official French translation of Dahir No 1-22-34 (Chaoual 1443 – 24 May 2022), promulgating Law No 95-17 relating to arbitration and conventional mediation, has been published in Official Bulletin No 7480 dated 5 February 2026. It describes the publication as long-awaited, stating that it enhances accessibility to Morocco’s regulatory framework governing arbitration and conventional mediation. Morocco VYAP also thanks its founders who prepared a French translation shortly after the Dahir was issued in 2022. According to Morocco VYAP, that version was widely used by arbitration practitioners and contributed to the dissemination and understanding of the new legal framework prior to publication of the official translation.

The Dubai Court of Cassation acknowledges the appointment of an expert for assessing a Company’s profits as a provisional measure falling within the scope of Article 18 FAL (Re Al Ghurair First LLC v Heirs of Al Ghurair)

Arbitration analysis: The Dubai Court of Cassation (‘DCC’) strictly enforced the arbitration clause contained in the articles of incorporation of the subject company and held that the presence of the arbitration clause excluded the jurisdiction of the Dubai Court of First Instance (the ‘DCFI’). The decision also highlights the wide scope of an arbitration clause, including claims for interim relief in support of arbitration. More specifically, the Court of Cassation emphasised the need to adhere to routine procedures, setting out the appropriate procedural avenues for securing interim or provisional relief available to litigants in arbitration pursuant to Article 18 of the UAE Federal Arbitration Law 2018 (UAE Federal Law No. 6 of 2018) as amended (the ‘FAL’) before the President of the competent Court of Appeal. Written by Dr Gordon Blanke, founding principal, Blanke Arbitration Dubai/London/Paris and associate tenant, No 5 Barristers’ Chambers, and Vikramaditya Singh, associate, Blanke Arbitration.

ICSID publishes 2025 caseload statistics reporting second-highest annual registrations

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has published its 2025 caseload statistics, reporting that as of 31 December 2025 it had registered 1,085 arbitration and conciliation cases under the ICSID Convention and Additional Facility Rules since 1972. The latest edition of the 'ICSID Caseload – Statistics' records 63 new cases in 2025, the second-highest number registered in a calendar year. ICSID states that most new cases (58%) invoked its jurisdiction through bilateral investment treaties, followed by state-investor contracts (15%) and domestic investment laws (6%). Of the new cases, 56 are ICSID Convention arbitrations, six are Additional Facility arbitrations and one is a conciliation. Regionally, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for the largest share of new cases in 2025 (24%), followed by South America (20%) and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (19%). By sector, mining represented 24% of new cases, oil and gas 21% and construction 16%. Of arbitrations concluded in 2025, 67% were decided by tribunals and 33% were settled or otherwise discontinued. Among cases decided by tribunals, 53% upheld investors’ claims in part or in full, while 31% rejected all claims on the merits; 11% declined jurisdiction and 5% were dismissed for manifest lack of legal merit. 60% of tribunal-decided cases resulted in no damages being awarded to investors. Women accounted for 30% of the 240 appointments made to ICSID cases in 2025.