The Bermuda legal system is founded upon the English common law and decisions of the English Court of Appeal and House of Lords are highly persuasive authority in the Bermuda Courts.

Decisions of the Privy Council are binding. Much of Bermuda's Statute Law is derived from English legislation -- for example, many of the provisions of the Bermuda Companies Act 1981 (including the regime governing corporate insolvency) are derived from the English Companies Act 1948.

The Rules of the Supreme Court of Bermuda 1985, which govern civil procedure, are derived from the English Supreme Court Practice 1979.

The Supreme Court of Bermuda is the trial court for all civil claims over $10,000. Smaller claims are dealt with in the Magistrates Court. Civil trials in the Supreme Court are heard before a single judge sitting without a jury (save in claims for defamation, wrongful arrest and false imprisonment where the right to jury trial exists).

The Supreme Court of Bermuda presently comprises four full-time judges (the Chief Justice and three puisne judges). In order to deal with the increasing demands of local and international litigation, two more assistant puisne judges have recently been appointed and two additional modern courtrooms have been constructed.

The Court of Appeal for Bermuda, comprising the President and two Justices of Appeal, sits in periodic sessions. A final appeal lies to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.

In civil cases, a party may appeal to the Privy Council as of right against any final order where the sum at issue is more than $12,000. Appeals to the Privy Council of any interlocutory order may be made with leave of the Court of Appeal, or the Privy Council.

The Bermuda Bar follows many English traditions -- for example, advocates wear wigs and robes in court.

Unlike the situation in England, however, there is a fused legal profession in Bermuda. All lawyers admitted to practise in Bermuda (called barristers and attorneys of the Supreme Court of Bermuda) have the right of audience before the Bermuda courts.

Admission to the Bermuda Bar is restricted to persons possessing Bermudian status who have been admitted to another Commonwealth Bar and have completed twelve months pupillage in Bermuda or overseas, and to non-Bermudians who are entitled to practise in another Commonwealth jurisdiction, who have been resident in Bermuda for twelve months, and who possess a valid work permit.

In cases of particular importance or legal difficulty, Queen's Counsel from overseas may be specially admitted for the trial of the action, at the discretion of Bar Council and the Supreme Court of Bermuda.

Two statutes govern arbitration in Bermuda: the Arbitration Act 1986 (the 1986 Act) and the Bermuda International Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1993 (the 1993 Act).

The 1986 Act was modelled on the Hong Kong Arbitration Ordinance then in force, and the majority of its provisions derive from the English Arbitration Acts 1950-1979.

The 1993 Act enacts the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (the Model Law). The Model Law governs any international commercial arbitration where the parties have chosen Bermuda as the place of arbitration. Parties may opt out of the Model law and chose the 1986 Act instead (section 29 of the 1993 Act). The 1986 Act governs domestic arbitrations.

Litigation and arbitration Under the Model Law, the powers of the Court to interfere with the arbitral process are reduced to a minimum. The arbitral tribunal is competent to rule on a challenge to its jurisdiction (Model Law, Article 16(3)). If the tribunal finds that it has jurisdiction, there is a single right of appeal to the Supreme Court of Bermuda (i.e. a single judge), under section 25(a) of the 1993 Act.

Apart from a challenge to the tribunal's jurisdiction, the 1993 Act (section 25(a)) permits an application to be made to the Supreme Court of Bermuda in the following cases: appointment of an arbitrator in default of the appointment procedure in the arbitration clause (Model Law, Article 11(3), (4)); failure or impossibility of an arbitrator to act (Article 14).

There is no right of appeal from a decision of the Supreme Court of Bermuda in respect of any of these matters.

The judicial review of arbitration awards is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal for Bermuda (three judges)(Section 25(b) of the 1993 Act).

The grounds upon which an award may be challenged under the Model law are very limited (Article 34) and are derived from the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.

It is not possible to challenge an award on the ground of error of law (unlike the 1986 Act, which adopts the system of judicial review in the English Arbitration Act 1979). The Model Law offers finality to parties who are willing to trust the arbitral process.

Bermuda operates an open door policy with respect to international arbitrations. There is no requirement to use local counsel. Arbitration is increasingly becoming the method by which commercial disputes are resolved.

Rod S. Attride-Stirling partner at Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki N.B.

This is the exact same Law Matters supplement that ran in The Royal Gazette on 20th September, 2000. However do the printing problems that affected the quality of the print, it was pulled from the circulation and did not appear again until the 9th October, 2000.