UK Arbitration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

UK Arbitration - Essay Example Amongst these methods are those that involve use of third parties that include arbitration1. Arbitration has evolved to become one of the more established methods of resolving disputes between parties and many countries or states have adapted it as a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, wherein the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons called the 'arbitrators' or 'arbitral tribunal', by whose decision called the 'award' the parties agree to be bound. The term is sometimes used in the context of describing alternative dispute resolution or ADR, a category that more commonly refers to mediation or a form of settlement negotiation facilitated by a neutral third party2. In the United Kingdom, the first law on arbitration was the Arbitration Act 1697 although arbitration had been common in England prior to its passing as by 1610, there already was a recorded judicial decision on arbitration, specifically the Vynior's Case3. Today, UK arbitration policies are guided by the Arbitration Act 1996 founded on the principles that: It is acknowledged that the institution of arbitration derives its force from the agreement of the parties and from the State as supervisor and enforces of the legal process5. Likewise, the contractual obligation of both parties enables the settlement process to override national differences in law and procedural obstacles that exist in local courts. Historically, arbitration became international and modern in character most notably due to the success of the Jay Treaty of 1794 between the United States and Britain resolving issues regarding debts and boundaries which took seven years6. Nevertheless, it was also claimed that mediation and arbitration preceded judicial settlement as exercised in ancient Greece, China and even among Arabian tribes. The Jay Treaty success re-awakened the practice and has been then adapted by the UK, US, and other European states. Once again, the process is strengthened in the Alabama Claims arbitration in 1872 that had three neutral governments Brazil, Italy and Switzerland appointed as members of the tribunal in a dispute between the UK and the US. The award had the UK pay compensation and duly complied with. The Hague Peace Conference of 1899 that tackled peace and armament a Convention on the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes and the creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.7 One of the more recent examples of arbitration proceedings of international character include the case of the European Union and Ecuador's banana dispute of which the World Trade Organisation has appointed an arbitrator to decide on the case. Ecuador is claiming to have lost $450 million dollars due to the restrictive banana import regime of the European Union of which the WTO earlier ruled twice to be discriminatory against Latin American banana producers.8 Another