Executive Summary

Arbitration has developed from a system by which trades and professions regulated the conduct of their own members. Members who failed to comply with an arbitrator's award were ostracised by their peers. There was little need for supervision or enforcement from outside the trade or profession. Global trade has reduced the effectiveness of peer pressure, whilst the development of international treaties has facilitated enforcement through state courts but offers few opportunities to challenge an arbitral award except on procedural grounds. Emphasis on procedure has ...