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Arbitration Despite the Parties?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2009

T. Varady
T. Varady
Affiliation:
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Novi Sad.
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Extract

Arbitration is an institution which preceded courts; yet shortly after the appearance of the latter, arbitration assumed the position of the younger (and weaker) brother. In the course of history, this predicament has only been confirmed and aggravated. Courts of justice have become the representatives of the ‘normal’ settlement of disputes, their legitimacy has been beyond doubt Arbitration has been reduced to an exception, the limits and the functioning of which have been firmly been controlled by courts. There have been revolts against this plight, yet there is practically only one area in which such revolts have really been successful. This is in the domain of international trade. Today, it is an uncontested fact that arbitration is the dominant method of settling international trade disputes; and at the same time, international commercial arbitration has become an almost completely self-sufficient institution. While gaining ground and strength, international commercial arbitration has also gained self-confidence. It has been stressed with increasing frequency (and determination) that the self-reliance of international commercial arbitration is a virtue, and that it advances broader common causes. In the opening sentence of his article on court intervention in arbitral proceedings, Delaume stresses: ‘It is generally recognized that, in order to be fully effective, transnational arbitration must be freed from judicial interference.’

Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands International Law Review , Volume 39 , Special Issue S1: Law and Reality , October 1992 , pp. 351 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Press 1991

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References

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12. Award No. 151/1984 of 3 December 1984, reported in XV Yearbook Comm. Arb'n (1990) p. 63.

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24. Ibid.

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26. United States District Court, S.D. New York, 411 F. Supp. 1404 — Decision of 7 November 1975.

27. Ibid, at p. 1407.

28. App. Div., 434 N.Y.S. 2d 359 — Decision of 30 December 1981.

29. Ibid, at p. 363.

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31. Ibid, at p. 77.

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34. 442 F. Supp. 907 (1978) at p. 908.

35. Ibid. — Decision of 10 January 1978.

36. English translation as reported in XV Yearbook Comm. Arb'n (1990) at p. 367.

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41. I Yearbook Comm. Arb'n (1976) at p. 134. (References in the Award to articles of the ICC Rules are to the old, pre-1975 Rules.)

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57. The Swiss courts found that there was no arbitration agreement between Westland Helicopters and the four states, yet the award was annulled only in regard to Egypt, in the absence of challenge by the other three states. 28 ILM (1989) p. 687.

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62. 702 F. Supp. 1005 (1988) at 1014.

63. Ibid. at p. 1018.

64. Ibid. at p. 1023.

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70. 609 F. Supp. 75 (1985).

71. See a list of U.S. decisions espousing the ‘strong federal policy favoring arbitration’, in Carbonneau, , loc. cit. n. 5, pp. 284–285.Google Scholar

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76. See n. 37.

77. See n. 30.

78. See nn. 32 and 33.

79. See supra, section 3.4.

80. See a 40.