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Transnational Law-Making: Assessing The Impact Of The Vienna Convention And The Viability Of Arbitral Adjudication, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Transnational Law-Making: Assessing The Impact Of The Vienna Convention And The Viability Of Arbitral Adjudication, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
Questions concerning the future orientation of the process are more pressing and demand a definition of the international mission and role of arbitral adjudication. Nations share the perception that national economies are no longer autonomous, that they must function within a larger global framework. The question then becomes not whether a uniform international law of sales is needed, but rather how it is to be achieved. The transnational preeminence that arbitration has gained as a remedial mechanism makes it a likely vehicle for elaborating a common law of international contracts. This article assesses the impact of the Vienna Convention upon …
The Rise In Judicial Hostility To Arbitration: Revisiting Hall Street Associates, Thomas E. Carbonneau
The Rise In Judicial Hostility To Arbitration: Revisiting Hall Street Associates, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
When the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Hall Street Associates,LLC v. Mattel, Inc., commentators expected the Court to resolve the split among the federal circuits regarding the validity and enforceability of 'opt-in' agreements.Since the late 1990s, these agreements had become a means through which contracting parties could obtain enhanced judicial supervision of arbitral awards by providing for judicial review of the merits of arbitrator rulings. While commentators got a resolution to the split, they received a great deal more than they had been promised. Stylistic opacity made the opinion in Hall Street somewhat inaccessible. In fact, as rendered, …
The Reform Of The French Procedural Law On Arbitration: An Analytical Commentary On The Decree Of May 14, 1980, Thomas E. Carbonneau
The Reform Of The French Procedural Law On Arbitration: An Analytical Commentary On The Decree Of May 14, 1980, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
Prior to May 1980, the French domestic law on arbitration had not been subject to any substantial legislative reform since the early nineteenth century. The procedural part of that law, which contained practically all of the French legislative provisions applying to arbitration, was out of date and in need of reconsideration. Despite the considerable French procedural law reforms enacted in 1975, articles 1005 through 1028 of the Nouveau Code de procédure civile had not been revised to any significant extent since the enactment of the Code de procédure civile in 1806. The basic intention of the new legislative text is …
The Revolution In Law Through Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
The Revolution In Law Through Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
My subject is arbitration. I explore how its re-emergence during the last forty years has revolutionized the thinking about, and the practice of, law. The development of a "strong federal policy favoring arbitration" cast aside traditional acceptations about law and adjudication. The rule of law-the human civilization associated with law and the legal process-has been profoundly, perhaps irretrievably, altered by the rise of arbitration. The landmark cases in labor and employment arbitration- Alexander v.Gardner-Denver Company (the "old time religion") and Gilmer v. Interstate/JohnsonLane Corporation (the "new age" thinking)- attest to the enormous distance that separates past and present concepts of …
The Elaboration Of A French Court Doctrine On International Commercial Arbitration: A Study In Liberal Civilian Judicial Creativity, Thomas E. Carbonneau
The Elaboration Of A French Court Doctrine On International Commercial Arbitration: A Study In Liberal Civilian Judicial Creativity, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
The task of the present article is to examine the historical evolution and current status of the French judicial doctrine on international commercial arbitration. It endeavors to compare the international doctrine with the French domestic law on arbitration and to illustrate briefly its conformity to the provisions of the international conventions on arbitration to which France is a party. Its chief design, however, is to concentrate upon the court decisions themselves, underscoring their progressive quality and pointing to their systemic implications.
Tax Liability And Inarbitrability In International Commercial Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Andrew W. Sheldrick
Tax Liability And Inarbitrability In International Commercial Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Andrew W. Sheldrick
Thomas Carbonneau
This essay engages in a narrow but crucial inquiry into the limits the inarbitrability defense may now impose upon the exercise of arbitral jurisdiction. While it is assumed that matters relating directly to status and capacity, testamentary dispositions, and title to immovable property fall outside the jurisdictional reach of international arbitrators, the question becomes whether any national regulatory laws, such as tax laws, benefit from the same status of inviolability.
The Ballad Of Transborder Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
The Ballad Of Transborder Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
International commercial arbitration (ICA) is many things positive. Because business transactions cannot take place without a functional system of adjudication,ICA has enabled parties to engage in and pursue international commerce. As a result, it has had an enormous impact upon the international practice of law, the structuring of a de facto international legal system, and the development of a substantive world law of commerce. In a word, ICA has been a vital engine in the creation of a transborder rule of law. Furthering this design, the arbitral "method"has even been applied to the unruly political problems that attend international trade …
The Exercise Of Contract Freedom In The Making Of Arbitration Agreements, Thomas E. Carbonneau
The Exercise Of Contract Freedom In The Making Of Arbitration Agreements, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
A universal principle of contemporary arbitration law is that contract plays a vital role in the governance of arbitration. The vitality of that role can vary by legal system, court,statute, or treaty. Nonetheless, party agreement often provides the most significant rules for regulating arbitrations and conducting arbitral proceedings. This is especially true in international commercial arbitration. There, the lack of a functional transborder legislativeand adjudicatory process made contract the principal source of law for internationalcommercial transactions and arbitrations. Although law-making is more possible withinindividual national legal systems, the rule of contract freedom is also firmly established inmatters of domestic arbitration. …
Rendering Arbitral Awards With Reasons: The Elaboration Of Common Law Of International Transactions, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Rendering Arbitral Awards With Reasons: The Elaboration Of Common Law Of International Transactions, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
With the growth of international trade, arbitration has emerged as the preferred remedy for resolving private international commercial disputes. In fact, among major Western legal systems such as those of England, the United States and France, statutory and decisional law developments indicate a nearly complete acceptance of international arbitral adjudication. This recognition of arbitral procedure and the enforcement of awards, which are given uniform legal recognition and enforcement by domestic legal systems, either as provisions in international conventions or as principles of national statutory or decisional law. These rules, in effect, represent an international consensus on arbitration and constitute a …
Judicial Approbation In Building The Civilization Of Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Judicial Approbation In Building The Civilization Of Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
This article describes and assesses the work of three national courts in regard to arbitration. The English experience demonstrates that judicial diffidence toward arbitration and concomitant reverence for the cohesion of substantive law can hamper the acceptance and function of arbitration within the legal system. The French and American experiences attest to a contradistinctive use of judicial authority in regard to arbitration. In both legal systems, the courts have been instrumental to the elaboration of a receptive and accommodating law on arbitration. In these legal systems, legislative enactments are used as a springboard for developing a judicial policy and decisional …
Commercial Peace And Political Competition In The Crosshairs Of International Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Commercial Peace And Political Competition In The Crosshairs Of International Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
This article examines the mixed effect of arbitration upon the generation of international law norms; in particular, how arbitration can generate private law norms so effectively and yet still face strong resistance in public international law processes and controversies. The work of arbitration for international commercial litigation has been nothing less than spectacular. In both the private international and domestic civil contexts, arbitration has provided viable remedial solutions and functional adjudication when the law was either nonexistent or incapacitated. It has supplied a workable and adaptable trial system, which-on the international side-could also generate substantive legal norms. Arbitration thereby has …
Debating The Proper Role Of National Law Under The New York Convention, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Debating The Proper Role Of National Law Under The New York Convention, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
One of the many consequences of the progressive development of globalization apparently has been to incite a vigorous debate among leading members of the international arbitral community about the role of national law in implementing the enforcement regime of the New York Arbitration Convention (Convention). The debate was provoked by federal court rulings in two recent cases: Chromalloy Aeroservices v. Arab Republic of Egypt (Chromalloy) and Alghanim & Sons v. Toys"R" Us (Toys "R" Us). Prior to these opinions, there appeared to have been an implicit consensus in the international community regarding the "anational"character of …
Cartesian Logic And Frontier Politics: French And American Concepts Of Arbitrability, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Francois Janson
Cartesian Logic And Frontier Politics: French And American Concepts Of Arbitrability, Thomas E. Carbonneau, Francois Janson
Thomas Carbonneau
This comparative essay represents an attempt to introduce a measure of counterpoise in a growing and much-heralded development in the world law of arbitration. Recent decisional law in the United States, France, and other countries have challenged the strategic significance of the concept of arbitrability in the legal regulation of arbitration. The essay seeks, first, to clarify the function of arbitrability in the law of arbitration and, second, to argue against its judicial deconstruction in either the international or domestic context. The key objective of the analysis is to demonstrate the vital role of demarcation that arbitrability plays between state …
Arguments In Favor Of The Triumph Of Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Arguments In Favor Of The Triumph Of Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
Arbitration is not just another trial procedure. It epitomizes a practical understanding of the purpose and value of adjudicatory procedures. It poses a substantial challenge to adversarial litigation by exposing its underlying irrationality and its destructive impact upon society. It guarantees the rule of law domestically and internationally through affordable access, expedited proceedings, expertise, and bridging the gap between national legal systems. It is a valuable institution that should not become a pawn in the tired and unimaginative political discourse that substitutes 'talking points' for genuine reflection and debate. The gravamen of the current attack on arbitration is not the …
Introduction To Symposium: Achieving Justice In Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Introduction To Symposium: Achieving Justice In Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
This symposium attests to the depth of scholarship that now surrounds the law of arbitration and to arbitration's widening adjudicatory mission in matters international and domestic. Authored by senior and emerging scholars who share a commitment to professional excellence, the various contributions not only assure continuity in arbitral scholarship, but also underscore the growing sophistication of arbitral practice and illustrate the complexity of the relationship between arbitration and the legal process. This symposium represents an inquiry into the convergence and divergence of legal and arbitral adjudicatory values and what impact these similarities and differences might have upon the functioning and …
Freedom And Governance In U.S. Arbitration Law, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Freedom And Governance In U.S. Arbitration Law, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
Arbitration has long served as a contractual substitute for judicial litigation. It provided a workable and effective form of adjudication in ancient societies and among religious groups, much as it does in contemporary times. Its long-standing appeal resides in enabling parties to choose a private adjudicatory mechanism based upon expertise and expedition that delivers fair, affordable, and enforceable outcomes. Arbitral adjudication effectively intermediates between the need for functional trial procedures and the imperative of safeguarding legal rights. Rights cannot be vindicated if the applicable hearing mechanisms are inaccessible and inefficient. The protracted puffery of lawyers is not a feasible solution …
Arbitral Law-Making, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Arbitral Law-Making, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
Diversity--of a cultural, economic, religious, and political kind—exists not only among nation-states and in the sources and interpretation of international law, but also among the group of commentators who study the interactions of transborder actors and institutions. For example, sociologists interested in the global community seek to identify emerging entities and activities and to elaborate conceptual models that explain the new differentiations within the traditional pattern. Some of them have a mounting interest in the fashioning of transborder commercial justice by international arbitrators and private arbitral institutions. Who are these new players? How did they acquire their mandate? Further, how …
Arbitration And The U.S. Supreme Court: A Plea For Statutory Reform, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Arbitration And The U.S. Supreme Court: A Plea For Statutory Reform, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
This Article argues for stabilizing and preserving arbitration's necessary and valuable vocation in dispute resolution. It outlines the basic stages in the evolution of the American law of arbitration and studies the underlying motivation of each of its historical phases. It attributes vital significance to the legislative and decisional law developments that led to an early rehabilitation of arbitration in American law, beginning with the enactment of the United States Arbitration Act (FAA) in 1925 and continuing with the ratification of the New York Arbitration Convention and the elaboration of a "hospitable" federal caselaw. Eventually, these developments gave rise to …
Building The Civilization Of Arbitration - Introduction, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Building The Civilization Of Arbitration - Introduction, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
The U.S. Supreme Court's work product has generated a large and growing arbitration bar. It also has finally begun to stimulate a greater volume of academic activity on the topic of arbitration. The work of legal practitioners and academics,along with the courts' decisional law, are "Building a Civilization of Arbitration" that codifies advances and grapples with the controversial aspects of law-in-the making.The Penn State Dickinson School of Law takes great pride in welcoming a distinguished group of lawyers and law teachers to the pages of its Law Review.They are the leaders in the field of arbitration. Their contributions identify the …
America And Other National Variations On The Theme Of International Commercial Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
America And Other National Variations On The Theme Of International Commercial Arbitration, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
Despite attempts at harmonization through treaty relations and State participation in multilateral organizations, the international arena is a composite of unsettled and unsettling structures. The volatility of global politics and discordant national perceptions of legitimate lawful conduct constitute a precarious, usually unsuitable, basis for an international rule of law. Domestic concepts of legality rarely serve as adequate instruments for molding the character of international relations. The irreducible principle of national sovereignty makes the world community resistant to the adoption of universal juridical standards and consecrates the fragmentation of national self-interest as the ultimate source of legality among nation-states. This article …
Arbitral Justice: The Demise Of Due Process In American Law, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Arbitral Justice: The Demise Of Due Process In American Law, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
Arbitration consists of a process for resolving disputes in a final and binding manner outside the traditional court system. The rules that govern arbitration provide for flexible proceedings and do not require the strict application of legal rules. Owing largely to the holdings of the U.S. Supreme Court, arbitration law and procedure have emerged from the obscurity of specialized practice and entered the adjudicatory mainstream. In 1925, with the enactment of the U.S. Arbitration Act, the U.S. Congress declaredthe rehabilitation of arbitral justice and dispute resolution. These provisionsanticipated, in effect, the modern, world-wide legislative legitimization ofarbitration. Primarily because of the …
Arbitral Adjudication: A Comparative Assessment Of Its Remedial And Substantive Status In Transnational Commerce, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Arbitral Adjudication: A Comparative Assessment Of Its Remedial And Substantive Status In Transnational Commerce, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
With the growth of international trade, arbitration has emerged as the preferred remedy for disputes in private international commerce. Its adjudicatory features respond well to the sui generis dispute resolution needs of international commercial contracts. Most significantly, an arbitration agreement acts as an elaborate choice-of-forum clause. It allows the parties to satisfy their need for a predictable and effective dispute resolution process by creating a more realistic and workable framework that supersedes the fundamentally parochial alternative proffered by national legal systems. The party autonomy principle that underlies arbitration gives the contracting parties the power to fashion a remedial process tailored …
A Comment On The 1996 United Kingdom Arbitration Act, Thomas E. Carbonneau
A Comment On The 1996 United Kingdom Arbitration Act, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
The 1996 United Kingdom Arbitration Act is a remarkable piece of legislation. It is a highly accessible statutory framework both from a linguistic and organizational standpoint. The 1996 Act represents a substantial improvement over prior English arbitration statutes,including the 1979 Act. The new legislation is comprehensive, thorough, cogent and coherent. In its presentation and content, it easily rivals both longstanding and recentlegislative enactments on arbitration. It is built upon a wealth of knowledge and expertise of arbitration law and practice, and embodies a very contemporary and integrated concept of arbitration. This commentary endeavors to highlight and appraise the most significant …
A Consideration Of Alternatives To Divorce Litigation, Thomas E. Carbonneau
A Consideration Of Alternatives To Divorce Litigation, Thomas E. Carbonneau
Thomas Carbonneau
This article argues for the need to inform divorce proceedings with a sense of the human reality of matrimonial breakdown. Part one assesses the adequacy of the existing adjudicatory approach to divorce by focusing upon the hiatus between the legal approach to divorce and the emotional content of divorce disputes. Part two lays the foundation for constructive change, providing a statistical portrait of divorce in contemporary America. Part four discusses mediation and suggests that it is a more viable alternative mechanism to divorce litigation. Part five discusses the implementation of a judicial arbitration structure.