5KIPGFD[#WUV.++ FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd v Rinehart [2017] FCAFC 170 Appeal from: Rinehart v Rinehart (No 3) [2016] FCA 539 File numbers: NSD 916 of 2016 NSD 922 of 2016 Judges: ALLSOP CJ, BESANKO AND O’CALLAGHAN JJ Date of judgment: 27 October 2017 Catchwords: ARBITRATION – appeal from interlocutory decision on an application under s 8(1) of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW) seeking an order that the parties to the proceeding be referred to arbitration in respect of the subject matter of various deeds – whether the primary judge erred in ordering a proviso trial under s 8(1) ARBITRATION – whether the arbitration contemplated by the arbitration agreements is commercial for the purposes of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW) – meaning of the phrase “commercial arbitration” – whether parties need to demonstrate the existence of a pre-existing commercial relationship between the parties to the dispute – whether a family or domestic dispute and the arbitration to resolve it can also be characterised as a commercial dispute ARBITRATION – proper approach to determination of an application under s 8(1) of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW) – proper approach to construction of an arbitration agreement – whether the disputes in question are the subject of an arbitration agreement – where arbitration agreements refer to “any dispute under this deed” – whether that phrase should be read as limited to those disputes governed or controlled by the deed – breadth of the potential meaning of entire phrase “any dispute under this deed” ARBITRATION – whether parties that are not parties to the deeds and arbitration agreements can be referred to arbitration because they claim “through or under” entities who are parties – definition of party within s 2(1) of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW) – whether the claims against third parties are part of the same “matter” within s 8(1) of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW) – circumstances in which claims against third party 4GVTKGXGFHTQO#WUV.++QP&GEGODGTCV 8GTKH[XGTUKQP 5KIPGFD[#WUV.++ companies can be stayed under the Court’s general power to stay proceedings ARBITRATION – principles of separability and competence – whether any of the arbitration agreements can be said to be null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed – whether the requisite separate attack on the arbitration agreement present – character of the necessary attack on the arbitration agreement for the proviso of s 8(1) – construction of phrase “null and void” – circumstances in which the Court should hear the separate attack or permit the arbitral tribunal to hear the attack CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – Constitutional validity of s 8(1) of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW) – whether s 8(1) is picked up by s 79 of the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth) – whether allowing the arbitrator to decide the proviso challenge under s 8(1) impermissibly confers judicial power upon the arbitrator Legislation: Constitution, s 76 Australian Consumer Law (Sch 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)), ss 18, 20 Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth), ss 78B, 79 International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth), s 7 Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth), ss 51AA, 52 Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth), rr 9.12, 36.32 Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW), ss 1, 1C, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 16, 34, 36 Commercial Arbitration Act 2012 (WA), s 8 Property Law Act 1969 (WA), s 11 Trustees Act 1962 (WA) Federal Arbitration Act 1925 (US) Arbitration Act 1996 (UK), s 7 European Convention Providing a Uniform Law on Arbitration, 484 UNTS 364, done at Strasbourg 20 January 1966 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (as adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on 21 June 1985, and as amended by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on 7 July 2006), Arts 8, 16, 34 4GVTKGXGFHTQO#WUV.++QP&GEGODGTCV 8GTKH[XGTUKQP 5KIPGFD[#WUV.++ UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules 1976, Art 21 Blackaby N and Partasides C, Redfern and Hunter on International Arbitration (6th ed, Oxford, 2015) Born G, International Commercial Arbitration (2nd ed, Wolters Kluwer, 2014) Joseph D, Jurisdiction and Arbitration Agreements and their Enforcement (3rd ed, Sweet and Maxwell, 2015) Schwebel S, ‘The Severability of the Arbitration Agreement’ published in International Arbitration: Three Salient Problems (1987), pp 1–60. UNCITRAL Analytical Commentary on Draft Text of a Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration: Report of the Secretary-General, 18th sess, UN Doc A/CN.9/264 (3-21 June 1985) van den Berg AJ, The New York Arbitration Convention of 1958 (Wolters Kluwer, 1981) Cases cited: A v B [2006] EWHC 2006 (Comm); [2007] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 237 Airberg Pty Ltd v Cut Price Deli Pty Ltd (unreported, Federal Court of Australia, Lindgren J, 3 August 1998) Bathurst City Council v PWC Properties Pty Limited [1998] HCA 59; 195 CLR 566 Bautista v Star Cruises 396 F. 3d 1289 (11th Cir, 2005) BHPB Freight Pty Ltd v Cosco Oceania Chartering Pty Ltd and Another [2008] FCA 551; 168 FCR 169 Bond Corporation Pty Ltd v Thiess Contractors Pty Ltd (1987) 14 FCR 193 Bremer Vulkan Schiffbau und Maschinenfabrik v South India Shipping Corporation Ltd [1981] AC 909 BTR Engineering (Australia) Ltd v Dana Corporation [2000] VSC 246 Cape Lambert Resources Ltd v MCC Australia Sanjin Mining Pty Ltd [2013] WASCA 66; 298 ALR 666 Casaceli v Natuzzi S.p.A. 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