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Research International Arbitration Law And Doctrine

International arbitration law is an eclectic body of law, composed of decisions rendered by international arbitration courts and arbitration tribunals, domestic court judgments, restatements, domestic arbitration laws, international treaties and awards of supranational institutions. Arbitration doctrine by respected commentators also plays a role in establishing the relevant legal norms to be applied in international arbitrations and is persuasive. While technically non-binding, except between the parties to a particular arbitration agreement, arbitration case law and doctrine is nevertheless persuasive and typically followed by arbitrators, although arbitrators can also be requested to rule ex aequo et bono (Latin for “from equity and conscience“).

Many free online resources exist to research issues pertinent to international commercial arbitration law and investment treaty arbitrations, including doctrine, caselaw, commentary, restatements and even audiovisual materials. A convenient way to research international arbitration law is provided on this website, by way of the IAR’s international arbitration search engine. This meta-search engine indexes and searches 67 leading international arbitration law resources automatically, including all of the relevant legal resources listed below.

Below, you can access the majority of useful online international arbitration research tools available today:

  • (I) free online tools to research international commercial arbitration law;
  • (II) free online tools to research investment treaty arbitration law; and
  • (III) the leading subscription-only online international arbitration resources.

I. Free Online Tools To Research Commercial International Arbitration Law

Below are listed, in alphabetical order, free online tools available to perform research on international commercial arbitration. Three of the most useful free resources are the International Arbitration Search Engine, Trans-Lex and the UNCITRAL’s website.

Arbitraje y Mediación (ARyME)

This Spanish-language resource has a decent collection of arbitration legislation and fairly up-to-date publications on international arbitration. Although it is in Spanish, many of the documents are in English.

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Association for International Arbitration (AIA)

The AIA has collected some arbitration case law and doctrine that is available to the general public, primarily in the form of links. Little information is included that is not already available here, but it could prove to be a useful resource in due course. As of June 2014, this resource is not worth visiting.


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Audiovisual Library Of International Law

This resource, which is provided by the United Nations, contains free online lectures on international commercial arbitration in a variety of languages, as well as access to documents such as the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in a variety of languages. It also provides a number of resources and lectures that are relevant to public international law.

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British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)

BAILII provides very good access to court decisions involving international arbitration in Ireland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales and Scotland.

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Chamber of Arbitration of Milan
Recent arbitral awards are available on this website.

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CISG Database

Parties involved in an international arbitration concerning the the international sale of goods involving the 80 countries that have ratified the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods are in luck, since Pace Law School’s Institute of International Commercial Law runs an excellent CISG Database with over 10,000 bibliography citations, 3,000 cases and 1,600 full texts of commentaries on the CISG and related topics.

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Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
Since 2009, full-text sports arbitration awards have been made available on the CAS website.

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Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL)

The American Society of International Law (ASIL) updates this resource regularly, including links to many international commercial arbitration and pure public international law legal materials.

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GAR Know-How

This clever resource, known as a filter, provides free cross-jurisdictional information with respect to international commercial arbitration in a number of jurisdictions. While wholly unsuitable for academics, it can be useful for swift knowledge about arbitration in a number of jurisdictions.

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Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC)

Many decisions of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre are freely available online.

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Indian Arbitration Caselaw

Numerous arbitration-related Indian court decisions are available via this free search engine, which can be useful.

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Interarb
While the interface is visually stultifying, some useful information, including commercial arbitration jurisprudence and model law materials, are available through this resource.

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International Arbitration Case Law
International Arbitration Case Law is a database created by academics in collaboration with Queen Mary School of International Arbitration. Here, International awards (primarily ICSID and other investor-State disputes) are available in numerous languages, including Chinese.

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International Arbitration Search Engine

This convenient tools searches dozens of the leading international arbitration resources instantly and simultaneously. It is highly-recommended for efficiently searching nearly all of the leading international arbitration law and information databases.

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International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA)
While much of ICCA’s content is subscription-only, some of it is not. For instance, it provides a handful of articles published on international arbitration in leading journals, useful consolidated lists of noteworthy court decisions and arbitral awards and a free, clear and concise guide to the interpretation and application of the New York Convention.

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International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC)
FIDIC’s website provides a relatively small, but useful, collection of international construction arbitration publications that may be freely downloaded.

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Japan Shipping Exchange (JSE) and the Tokyo Maritime Arbitration Commission (TOMAC)
JSE and TOMAC are the main bodies in Japan dealing with arbitral matters in the shipping industry. They offer free access to their arbitral awards, which involve shipping disputes and other maritime law-related matters.

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Kluwer Arbitration Blog

The Kluwer Arbitration blog is freely accessible and contains often excellent analyses provided by highly-qualified arbitration practitioners including Members of the IAA Network. The blog is freely-searchable and covers manner issues related to international commercial arbitration.

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Jus Mundi

Jus Mundi is a recent website that has compiled a considerable amount of information on international arbitration.

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Lex Mercatoria

Lex Mercatoria contains a number of links to international commercial arbitration resources. Unfortunately it is not updated as regularly as would be desired.

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OHADA Case Law

CCJA/Ohada arbitral awards may be located on this website upon subscription. This tool includes citations to over 3,000 cases.

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Polish Chamber of Commerce
Many arbitral awards are available from the Polish Chamber of Commerce

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Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII)

Although not dedicated to international arbitration, this resource is useful for researching arbitration-related caselaw in the countries of Southern Africa, including South Africa, Zambia, Angola, Zimbabwe and many others.

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Swedish Arbitration Portal

This resource provides free access to English translations of Swedish court decisions on arbitration issues.

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Trans-Lex
Professor Dr. Klaus Peter Berger’s excellent Trans-Lex bills itself as a “free research and codification platform for transnational law.” It contains numerous articles on international arbitration by leading international arbitration practitioners and academics on a host of subjects, as well as other arbitration-related resources. It is one of the most useful free resources for researching doctrine on international commercial arbitration, and it includes a fair amount of commentary regarding construction disputes.

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United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

The UNCITRAL maintains a useful database (“Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts” or “CLOUT”) of court decisions and arbitral awards involving issues related to UNCITRAL treaties and model laws, which includes abstracts of numerous decisions. The UNCITRAL website also includes many reports, training guides on international arbitration and webcasts of lectures on international arbitration.

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United States Supreme Court Arbitration Decisions

Cornell’s Legal Information Institute has access to the dozens of U.S. decisions on arbitration-related matters, and State court materials can also be accessed with respect to arbitration and international arbitration. It can be a useful resource for U.S. arbitration law research.

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II. Free Online Tools To Research Investment Treaty Arbitration Law

There are a number of free online resources concerning investment treaty arbitrations, many of which are excellent. In particular, the Investment Treaty Arbitration database is used frequently by arbitration practitioners, and we highly recommend it.

Digest of International Investment Jurisprudence
The digest of international investment jurisprudence is not comprehensive, but it does contain useful case digests on investment treaty arbitration and a useful section on issues arising in investment arbitrations.

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Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) Case Law
Case law involving the ECT is reported here. The same information is available on sites such as the Investment Treaty Arbitration website.

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International Arbitration Case Law
International Arbitration Case Law is a database created by academics in collaboration with Queen Mary School of International Arbitration. Here, International awards (primarily ICSID and other investor-State disputes) are available in numerous languages, including Chinese.

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International Arbitration Search Engine

This convenient tools searches 67 of the leading international arbitration resources instantly and simultaneously. It is highly-recommended for efficiently searching nearly all of the leading international arbitration law and information databases.

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International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

ICSID is the leading arbitral institution involved in the administration of investment treaty arbitration and makes available on its website ICSID awards as well as updates on investment treaty laws. This information is also available on the Investment Treaty Arbitration website.

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International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice’s website includes judgments, advisory opinions and orders dating from 1946 and is useful when researching public international law issues.

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International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
The IISD publishes information on how investment law, arbitration and sustainability are related, including summaries of investment awards and articles and commentaries on issues relevant to investment law.

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Investment Treaty Arbitration (ITA)
Created by a Canadian professor teaching at the University of Victoria, ITA is an outstanding free resource for researching investment treaty law and doctrine. It includes nearly all publicly available investment treaty arbitral awards, as well as the decisions of annulment committees, case law on enforcement proceedings throughout the world and access to doctrine and many other materials relevant to investment treaty arbitrations.

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Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal Awards
The influential Iran-U.S. Tribunal was specifically created in 1981 to manage Iranian-American claims. All the tribunal’s decisions and awards are available upon free registration.

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NAFTA Claims
NAFTA Claims is maintained by a legal practitioner who was involved in claims concerning the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Nearly all publicly available arbitral awards, orders and submissions (pleadings) of the parties may be found here.

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PCA Cases
The PCA maintains a list of many pending and prior cases. Its arbitral awards are available here.

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Reports of International Arbitral Awards
The United Nations office of legal affairs publishes numerous international arbitral awards involving State-to-State disputes and State-to-international organization disputes dating as far back as 1814.

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United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Treaty Database
This essential resource provides the full text of nearly all bilateral investment treaties on its website in a convenient, country-by-country manner. It is frequently relied upon by arbitral practitioners.

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World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII)
This website provides free online access to over 1200 legal databases from over 120 different jurisdictions. A significant amount of caselaw concerning international arbitration is available, especially for Commonwealth countries.

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World Trade Organization Database

This website lists WTO cases. By selecting the case number, one may freely browse and download related documents.

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III. Subscription-only Resources To Research International Arbitration Law

As would be expected, some of the most powerful online tools require a subscription. The best-known is Kluwer Arbitration, a historic leader in terms of international arbitration legal resources. Specialized international arbitration lawyers should have access to these subscription-only resources, which include the following:

Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb)
Based in London, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators maintains three major resources. The Resolver is published every quarter and gives updates on dispute resolution issues worldwide. The International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management, also published every 3 months, focuses on arbitration in a couple of countries per year, with case notes and commentaries. The Linex Alerter, a newsletter of Linex Legal and the CiArb, informs members on a weekly basis of the latest developments in alternative dispute resolutions methods.

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Global Arbitration Review (GAR)
GAR is a major international arbitration review. It provides its readers with featured news, a know-how section drafted by practitioners from leading law firms, and non-academic articles. GAR also publishes yearly reviews on the state of arbitration in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, examining arbitral developments in each country.

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HeinOnLine
HeinOnLine contains articles from numerous legal journals that are relevant to international arbitration, as well as hard-to-find documents that are useful for public international law issues.

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Investment Arbitration Reporter
This very useful service provides electronic tracking of news concerning international arbitrations between foreign investors and host States. Browsing is free, as are some articles and arbitral decisions, but the majority of items require a subscription.

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International Bar Association (IBA)
The IBA publishes the Dispute Resolution International journal, as well as a newsletter from its Arbitration Committee which focuses on arbitration developments.

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International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)/International Court of Arbitration (ICA)
The ICC sells a number of useful resources on international arbitration, including books and unpublished, redacted extracts of ICC arbitral awards with commentaries.

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Investment Claims

Oxford University Press is behind this useful database that includes primary materials in investment treaty arbitration as well as analysis and commentary on international investment law and arbitration. A subscription is required to access the material, which includes awards, bilateral investment treaties, institution rules, and national arbitration laws as well as analysis and commentary from Oxford University Press monographs and journals.

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Kluwer Arbitration
Kluwer Arbitration is the most renowned and comprehensive arbitration resource available today. It is also the best. Its available materials include arbitration awards from most leading arbitral institutions, articles, and commentaries on commercial, investment and construction arbitrations. It also publishes the well-respected Journal of International Arbitration and provides access to numerous arbitration bulletins, journals and leading books on international arbitration. Searching is free but one needs a subscription to retrieve the full text of these documents. Many students and academics have access to this indispensable arbitration resource.

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LexisNexis Arbitration Databases
LexisNexis offers coverage of international arbitration, including many primary and secondary sources. Arbitration cases, doctrine and articles can all be found in its database.

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Practical Legal Company (PLC)
PLC is a resource used by practitioners worldwide. It offers information on arbitration updates, cases, and commentaries.

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Transnational Dispute Management (TDM)
TDM is an online journal that makes available articles and awards on international arbitration.

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Although care is taken to ensure the integrity, quality and availability of information on this website, it is intended for educational purposes only and should not replace legal or professional advice. If you require legal counsel with respect to an issue concerning international arbitration law, please do not hesitate to contact the members of the IAA Network.

WESTLAW Arbitration Databases

Westlaw is one of the most renowned legal resources used by professionals. It provides a wealth of articles and cases, including LCIA and ICC awards. The International Commercial Arbitration – All (database identifier ICA-ALL) combines all of Westlaw’s databases into one database, which is convenient.

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Recommended Links

  • Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce
  • International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR)
  • International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
  • International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
  • London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)
  • Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC)
  • United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)
  • Vienna International Arbitration Centre (VIAC)

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