Interim Anti-Suit Injunctions

Abstract This chapter examines interim anti-suit injunctions. Most anti-suit injunctions are sought and granted on an interim basis. The need to pre-empt hearings in the other proceedings means that interim relief is frequently a practical necessity; in many cases, the grant of an interim injunction will be decisive. Indeed, anti-suit injunctions can be granted as interim relief only, without corresponding final anti-suit relief. In ordinary civil litigation in the High Court, the power under which interim anti-suit injunctions are granted is section 37(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981, which provides that the court has the power to grant interim as well as final injunctions if it is ‘just and convenient’ to do so. An interim anti-suit injunction claimed under section 37(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 should in general be sought within the framework of pre-existing substantive proceedings brought by claim form.