This essay brings to light-and expands upon-some of Mustill and Boyd's observations on the remedy of damages for court proceedings wrongly brought. It provides a concise chronological account of the English courts' power to grant such a remedy, especially, in relation to the infringement of the right to avoid those court proceedings. It also surveys a part of the English arbitration literature as well as various judicial authorities bearing on the subject both before and after the Arbitration Act 1996 came into force. After drawing a distinction between damages for improper initiation of national court proceedings in breach of an arbitration agreement governed by a foreign law and damages for improper initiation of foreign court proceedings in breach of an arbitration agreement governed by English law, the author argues (inter alia) that, as far as English law is concerned, the party against whom court proceedings have been initiated in contravention of an international contract to arbitrate has a common law right to claim compensatory damages in respect of the loss occasioned by the breach. He also argues for the compatibility of this remedy with European Union law and looks at the different fora in which a damages claim can be entertained.
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