This book deals with the contractual platform for arbitration and the application of contractual norms to the parties' dispute. Arbitration and agreement are inter-linked in three respects: (i) the agreement to arbitrate is itself a contract; (ii) there is scope (subject to clear consensual exclusion) in England for monitoring the arbitral tribunal's fidelity and accuracy in applying substantive English contract law; (iii) the subject-matter of the arbitration is nearly always a ‘contractual’ matter. These three elements underlie this work. They appear as Part I (arbitration is founded on agreement), Part II (monitoring accuracy), Part III (synopsis of the English contractual rules frequently encountered within arbitration). The book will be a useful resource to foreign lawyers or English non-lawyers, English lawyers seeking a succinct discussion, and to arbitral tribunals.​

The vast bulk of claims in international commercial arbitration are contractual in nature. Viewed through that lens, what comes to occupy centre stage in the arbitration of disputes is the choice of applicable contract law. This book breaks new ground by for the first time focusing in depth on the contract law chosen by the parties to be applied to disputes. The author uses a comparative-inductive methodology to analyse why – according to statistics of the International Chamber of Commerce – English, New York, and Swiss contract law outperform transnational and other contract law regimes in the choice-of-law provision of business contracts. He finds that these three bodies of law share a firm commitment to enforcing the contract as written, thus prioritizing certainty, stability, and predictability, and clearly recognizing the parties’ right to determine for themselves (and have arbitrators and courts respect) central issues such as risk allocation and price. Starting from a detailed comparative examination of traditional and contemporary theories of contract, the author develops a minimalist approach that is acceptable to lawyers with a civil or common law background and that facilitates dealmaking by providing a clear set of hard-edged rules in four areas – formation of contracts, invalidity and public policy, contract interpretation, and damages for breach – and showing how each of the three contract regimes that are dominant in practice manifests his approach. With its emphasis on pragmatic adjudication grounded on facts and consequences rather than on conceptualisms and generalities, the book greatly enhances the ability of arbitrators to make decisions based on legal arguments that fit the setting of international commercial arbitration. It is sure to become established as a tool to achieve the defined objective of facilitating cross-border commercial transactions as well as providing arbitrators with a set of rules for the interpretation of contractual provisions and the quantification of damages. ‘Peter Sester confronts the reality that disputes in commercial arbitration are overwhelmingly contract-based, and properly directs our attention away from the contract by which the parties agreed to arbitrate to the contract by reference to which they intended their disputes to be adjudicated. This is a most welcome move and one that cannot help stimulate those whose interests are similarly situated on the frontier between the law of arbitration and the law of international contracts.’ Prof. George A. Bermann Columbia University, New York City ‘This is a book that is not only useful but also close to market expectations. ... Summing up, I would like to congratulate Peter Sester for giving us a free-market society book. He provides his readers with much food for thought and a remarkable admonition not to replace the parties’ work with public policy considerations.’ Prof. Dr Peter Nobel Emeritus Universities St. Gallen and Zurich, Switzerland

The distinguished international lawyer Michael Pryles, who launched a meteoric career as an arbitrator after many years of teaching and writing on conflicts of law and other topics, has made a mark on arbitral law and practice that is recognized worldwide. In this book, over forty prominent arbitrators and arbitration scholars offer insightful essays on the thorny matters of jurisdiction, admissibility and choice of law in arbitration – topics which have long interested Professor Pryles and are of wide interest. Among the specific issues and topics examined are the following: • res judicata; • investment arbitration; • free trade agreements; • party autonomy; • application of provisional measures; • issue estoppel; • evidentiary inferences; • interim measures; • emergency and default proceedings; • the intersection of financing and jurisdiction; • consolidation of cases; and • non-contractual claims. Remarkable for its roster of highly distinguished contributors, this book is the only in-depth treatment of its subject. By turns thought-provoking and practical, it is bound to appeal to and be put to use by arbitrators and other lawyers who handle international cases. It will also prove of great value to global law firms and companies doing transnational business.

The growth of national economic regulation and the process of globalisation increasingly expose international transactions to an array of regulations from different jurisdictions. These developments often contribute to widespread international contractual failures when parties claim the incompatibility of their contractual obligations with regulatory laws. The author challenges conventional means of dispute resolution and argues for an interdisciplinary approach whereby disciplines such as international economic law, conflict of laws, contract law and economic regulations are functionally united to resolve international and multifaceted regulatory disputes. He identifies the normative foundation of contract law as an important determinant in this process, contending that contract law is essentially neutral and underpinned by the concept of corrective justice, while economic regulations are mainly prompted by distributive justice. Applying this corrective/distributive justice dichotomy to international contracts, the author critically assesses major conflict of laws approaches such as `proper law', `the Rome Convention' and `governmental interest analysis', which could disregard either public interest or private rights. The author, taking these theories into account, proposes an alternative two-dimensional interest analysis approach. He tests the viability of this approach with reference to arbitral awards and court decisions in various jurisdictions and concludes that it uniquely fits into the structure of international commercial arbitration. In adopting this approach arbitrators would take into account both corrective and distributive justice, and to the extent that corrective justice prevails, would be able to avert a total failure of the contract.

Examining a developing culture of international commercial arbitration and the implications for the evolution of contract law, this book includes case studies and analysis from interviews with international arbitrators and national court judges, and identifies trends to explain and predict arbitration decisions on issues of substantive law.

The vast bulk of claims in international commercial arbitration are contractual in nature. Viewed through that lens, what comes to occupy centre stage in the arbitration of disputes is the choice of applicable contract law. This book breaks new ground by for the first time focusing in depth on the contract law chosen by the parties to be applied to disputes. The author uses a comparative-inductive methodology to analyse why - according to statistics of the International Chamber of Commerce - English, New York, and Swiss contract law outperform transnational and other contract law regimes in the choice-of-law provision of business contracts. He finds that these three bodies of law share a firm commitment to enforcing the contract as written, thus prioritizing certainty, stability, and predictability, and clearly recognizing the parties' right to determine for themselves (and have arbitrators and courts respect) central issues such as risk allocation and price. Starting from a detailed comparative examination of traditional and contemporary theories of contract, the author develops a minimalist approach that is acceptable to lawyers with a civil or common law background and that facilitates dealmaking by providing a clear set of hard-edged rules in four areas - formation of contracts, invalidity and public policy, contract interpretation, and damages for breach - and showing how each of the three contract regimes that are dominant in practice manifests his approach. With its emphasis on pragmatic adjudication grounded on facts and consequences rather than on conceptualisms and generalities, the book greatly enhances the ability of arbitrators to make decisions based on legal arguments that fit the setting of international commercial arbitration. It is sure to become established as a tool to achieve the defined objective of facilitating cross-border commercial transactions as well as providing arbitrators with a set of rules for the interpretation of contractual provisions and the quantification of damages. 'Peter Sester confronts the reality that disputes in commercial arbitration are overwhelmingly contract-based, and properly directs our attention away from the contract by which the parties agreed to arbitrate to the contract by reference to which they intended their disputes to be adjudicated. This is a most welcome move and one that cannot help stimulate those whose interests are similarly situated on the frontier between the law of arbitration and the law of international contracts.' Prof. George A. Bermann Columbia University, New York City 'This is a book that is not only useful but also close to market expectations. ... Summing up, I would like to congratulate Peter Sester for giving us a free-market society book. He provides his readers with much food for thought and a remarkable admonition not to replace the parties' work with public policy considerations.' Prof. Dr Peter Nobel Emeritus Universities St. Gallen and Zurich, Switzerland

This book examines the formation, nature and effect of the arbitratorsâe(tm) contract, addressing topics such as the appointment, challenge, removal and duties and rights of arbitrators, disputing parties and arbitration institutions. The arguments made in the book are based on a semi-autonomous theory of the juridical nature of international arbitration and a contractual theory of the legal nature of these relationships. From these premises, the book analyses the formation of the arbitratorâe(tm)s contract in both ad hoc and institutional references. It also examines the institutionâe(tm)s contract with the disputing parties and its effect on the arbitratorâe(tm)s contract under institutional references. The book draws from national arbitration laws and institutional rules in various jurisdictions to give a global view of the issues examined in it. The arbitratorâe(tm)s contract is analysed from a global perspective of arbitral law and practice with insights from various jurisdictions in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America. The primary focus of the book is an analysis of the formation of the arbitratorâe(tm)s contract and the terms of this contract and the institutionâe(tm)s contract. The primary question of the consequences (if any) of the breaches of the terms of these contracts and its impact on the exclusion or limitation of liability of arbitrators and institutions is also analysed with the conclusion that since these transactions are contractual and the terms can be categorised as in any normal contract, then normal contractual remedies can be applied to the breaches of these terms. International Commercial Arbitration and the Arbitratorâe(tm)s Contract will be of great value to arbitration practitioners and researchers in arbitration. It will also be very useful to students of arbitration on the topics of arbitrators and arbitration institution.