In commercial disputes, parties often choose arbitration as an alternative method of resolving their disputes outside of traditional court proceedings. Despite the existence of an arbitration agreement, it is widely accepted that a party’s right to arbitrate may be waived by either an explicit contractual provision or its subsequent conduct. The courts have taken different […]
Appealing International Arbitration Awards
Most arbitration rules do not allow parties to lodge an appeal to an arbitration award in international arbitration. Thus, the selection of an appropriate arbitral tribunal and experienced arbitration counsel is critically important, as the facts and the law cannot generally be reheard. Awards can be annulled (meaning that the arbitration must be recommenced) or […]
UNIDROIT Principles and International Commercial Arbitration
Parties to a contract do not tend to agree on the application of the domestic law of the other. They usually choose a “neutral law”, the law of a third country. However, this choice often leads to apparent inconveniences since the chosen law is foreign to both parties. Indeed, understanding its content may require time-consuming […]
Assignment of Arbitration Agreements
The assignment of a contract containing an arbitration agreement to a third party raises several questions.[1] The first question is whether the arbitration agreement is automatically transferred.[2] If so, what is the legal basis for such a transfer?[3] Other issues concern the validity of the assignment of the main contract itself and whether evidence of […]
The Standard of Proof in Arbitration
In The Burden of Proof in Arbitration, a distinction was made between the burden of proof, defined as “the duty of proving a disputed assertion or charge”, and the standard of proof, which “determines the level of certainty and the degree of evidence necessary to establish proof in a criminal or civil proceeding”, according to […]