Partnership arbitration clauses can bind legal heirs and support claims for rendition of accounts after a partner's death.

An arbitration agreement in a partnership deed survives the death of a partner and remains enforceable by or against the deceased partner's legal representatives where the estate is represented through them. The heirs are not excluded merely because they were non-signatories if the deed contemplates continuation of the firm and arbitration of disputes arising from partnership affairs or dissolution. A surviving claim for rendition of partnership accounts may therefore be pursued by the heirs through arbitration rather than civil proceedings. The legal effect is that the arbitration clause can bind and benefit the deceased partner's heirs when the underlying partnership right to sue survives.

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Issues: (i) Whether the legal heirs of a deceased partner, though non-signatories to the partnership deed, can be bound by the arbitration agreement contained therein. (ii) Whether the right to sue for rendition of accounts survives to the legal heirs of the deceased partner so as to entitle them to invoke the arbitration clause.

Issue (i): Whether the legal heirs of a deceased partner, though non-signatories to the partnership deed, can be bound by the arbitration agreement contained therein.

Analysis: An arbitration agreement does not cease on the death of a party and remains enforceable by or against the legal representatives of the deceased. The statutory scheme treats legal representatives as persons representing the estate of the deceased, and an arbitral award is binding on the parties as well as persons claiming under them. Where the partnership deed contemplates continuation of the firm and arbitration of disputes relating to partnership affairs or dissolution, the heirs stepping into the shoes of the deceased partner are not excluded merely because they did not sign the deed.

Conclusion: The legal heirs of the deceased partner are bound by the arbitration agreement and may be brought within its scope.

Issue (ii): Whether the right to sue for rendition of accounts survives to the legal heirs of the deceased partner so as to entitle them to invoke the arbitration clause.

Analysis: The right relating to accounts of a partnership survives to the legal representatives of a deceased partner where the cause of action continues and the dispute concerns partnership affairs. When such a surviving claim is referable to arbitration under the partnership deed, the heirs may invoke the arbitration clause instead of being driven to civil proceedings. The statutory provisions governing the rights and liabilities arising on dissolution support continuation of such claims through the deceased partner's estate.

Conclusion: The right to sue for rendition of accounts survives, and the legal heirs are entitled to invoke arbitration.

Final Conclusion: The partnership arbitration clause remains enforceable against and by the legal heirs of the deceased partner, and the challenge to the High Court's order fails.

Ratio Decidendi: An arbitration agreement in a partnership deed survives the death of a partner and is enforceable by or against the legal representatives where the underlying right to sue survives, including claims for rendition of partnership accounts.

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