NML v Argentina in an English legal setting

Abstract

In Santa Anna and his Black Eagle,1 Benjamin Chabot and Mitu Gulati have done a great service in seeking to understand the historical origin of the pari passu clause in the circumstances of Mexican defaults in the nineteenth century. This article will doubtless continue to be cited by legal historians seeking to understand the background against which the clause first appeared and the purpose that the language had in the decree governing the Black Eagle bond. It is also a salutary reminder of the importance of inter-creditor equality in sovereign bonds since their inception. However, it is respectfully submitted, that it is of limited relevance to an English court considering a sovereign bond issued in modern times as the historical circumstances are far removed from the present. In particular, the implicit threat of extrajudicial enforcement that formed the backdrop to the decree is a thing of the...