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Arbitration Despite the Parties?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2009

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
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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27. Ibid, at p. 1407.

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29. Ibid, at p. 363.

30. 636 F.2d 75 (1981) — Decision of 9 January 1981.

31. Ibid, at p. 77.

32. République de Guinée v. Chambre Arbitrale de Paris, Tribunal de grande instance. Judgments of 30 May 1986, 30 October 1986, and 28 January 1987, Paris, Rev. arb. (1987) p. 371.

33. The Tribunal de grande instance rendered three decisions in the controversy between the Republic of Guinea and the Chambre Arbitrale de Paris (Rev. arb. (1987) p. 371). Avoidance of the arbitration agreement on grounds of lost confidence was granted in the third judgment of 28 January 1987. Idem at p. 380.

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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‘it would not be possible to explain how the terms of reference, in which the A.R.E. claims immunity from jurisdiction and maintains, before any arguments on the merits, that there was no arbitration agreement, could replace such an agreement;’ (at p. 1054).

56. Westland Helicopters Limited v. Arab Organization for Industrialization, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, State of Qatar, Arab Republic of Egypt, and Arab British Helicopter Company, ICC Case No. 3879, Interim Award of 5 March 1984, 23 ILM (1984) p. 1071.

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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61. 609 F. Supp. at p. 78.

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. 284285.Google Scholar

72. 460 U.S. 1(1983).

73. 609 F. Supp. 75 (1985) at 77.

74. See, e.g., Samuel, , op. cit. n. 59, p. 96Google Scholar; Derains, Y., Observations on the I.C.C. Case No. 2138 (1974), (1975) pp. 934, 938Google Scholar; Derains, Y., Chronique des sentences arbitrales, (1981) p. 943.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.