Summary
A cable supplier accepted purchase orders referring to attached standard terms containing arbitration, except as to delivery time. The Court held that general reference to a party’s consensual standard terms could incorporate the arbitration clause, reversed refusal of appointment, and appointed a sole arbitrator.
Issues
- Whether general reference to one party’s attached standard terms incorporated arbitration without a separate express reference to that clause.
Held
- General reference to an earlier contract ordinarily does not incorporate its arbitration clause. A general reference to a consensual standard form, however, suffices, including one party’s own standard terms; the exception is not confined to trade-association or professional-body forms. The Court accepted M.R. Engineers with that modification. (¶ 18–19)
- The purchase order expressly applied its attached standard terms, the supplier knew those terms and accepted them except delivery time, and this was a single-contract case. Its arbitration clause was therefore incorporated. (¶ 20)
Result
Appeal allowed and High Court judgment set aside; Justice Sushil Harkauli appointed arbitrator to adjudicate the parties’ dispute.