Larsen v. The Hawaiian Kingdom

Abstract

Arbitration — Constitution — Permanent Court of Arbitration — Optional Rules for Arbitrating Differences between Two Parties of which Only One is a State — UNCITRAL Rules — Whether available for disputes of a non-commercial, non-contractual character

Arbitration — Nature of arbitral proceedings — Jurisdiction — Requirement of a justiciable dispute — Purpose of tribunal to decide disputes, not to answer abstract questions — Whether arbitral tribunal entitled to decide issue where the very subject matter is the rights and obligations of a State not party to the proceedings

Arbitration — Procedure — Power of tribunal to determine procedure — Whether parties can override procedural decisions of tribunal by agreement

States — Existence — Recognition — Continuity — Extinction — Hawaiian Kingdom — Whether a State during the nineteenth century — Annexation by United States of America — Whether Hawaiian Kingdom extinguished thereby — Whether annexation valid — Whether arbitral tribunal entitled to determine that question in the absence of the United States of America