Because the Liberian company and the Belgium claimants had received bills of lading on previous shipments without objection, the form was one that accorded with practices that the parties had established. The exclusive jurisdiction clause was one that would normally be encountered in a modern day international liner service, and so represents a suage of which parties ought to be aware. An issue that case up was whether the European nationals as receivers were bound by a jurisdiction clause in a bills of lading issued at the request of their suppliers. The court decided that as they had taken up the bills of lading and claimed delivery of the containers, they would be bound by its terms, including the jurisdiction clause. Courts are cautious in issuing anti-suti injunctions as the order is a restaint upon the exercise of jurisdiction by a court of a sovereign nation.
Cases involving jurisdiction clauses are more frequent as global trading increases.
Even if we are in a global village, there are many courts and every trader wishes a dispute to be decided in a court with which it is most familiar. . . .