Introduction

The requirement that the parties to an arbitration agreement honor their undertaking to submit to arbitration any disputes covered by their agreement entails the consequence that the courts of a given country are prohibited from hearing such disputes. If seized of a matter covered by an arbitration agreement, the courts will often be required, under the applicable rules, to refer the parties to arbitration. This principle has been recognized in most modern arbitration statutes (notably at Article 8 of the UNCITRAL Model Law), as well as in international conventions. In ...