Re Jahre judge’s arrest brings the curtain down on 67-year-old case

Clifford ;Chance, together with offshore firms Appleby and Charles Adams Ritchie & Duckworth, has settled one of the world’s longest-running cases – 67 years after the initial ­hearing in 1941.

The firms took the decision to settle the case known as Re Jahre after Canada’s Justice Alexander Henderson, allocated to the Cayman Islands case, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct while in public office.

A case insider said Mr Justice Cresswell heard judicial review proceedings over the arrest, but the parties decided to settle rather than start over with a new judge.

As previously reported, the case concerned a dispute over the recovery of assets alleged to belong to the estate of shipping magnate Anders Jahre. In 1941, when an oil tanker owned by the Panamanian Company was seized by the Allies, the State of Norway embarked on an attempt to prove Jahre was the owner, which he denied.

Jahre died aged 90 before the main trial in 1983. Fifteen English barristers have been involved, along with 10 UK law firms, since the case began. In the latest round, Clifford Chance and Appleby instructed Camilla Bingham of One Essex Court and Jonathan Davey of Wilberforce Chambers. Charles Adams instructed four ­counsel, including Stephen Rubin QC and Philip Brook Smith QC, both of Fountain Court Chambers.