Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

A Better Approach To Arbitrability, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Historically, Anglo-American courts refused to enforce arbitration agreements, jealously guarding their dispute resolution monopoly. During the early twentieth century, merchants and attorneys began seeking legislation requiring courts to defer to arbitration. The United States Abitration Act took effect January 1, 1926 and has remained essentially unchanged. It was written with the implicit assumption that it would be invoked by commercial actors having relatively equal bargaining power and emotive appeal to a jury. The Act says nothing to direct the court's inquiry concerning the quality of either party's assent to the arbitration clause other than requiring a written arbitration agreement and …

Reconsidering The Employment Contract Exclusion In Section 1 Of The Federal Arbitration Act: Correcting The Judiciary's Failure Of Statutory Vision, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

The Federal Arbitration Act (the Act), seeks to eliminate centuries of perceived judicial hostility toward arbitration agreements. The Act made written arbitration agreements involving interstate commerce specifically enforceable. It also provided a procedural structure for enforcing awards, which were protected through deferential judicial review. The Act intended to have a wide reach, employing a broad definition of commerce that has presumably grown in breadth along with the expansion of judicial notions of commerce. Although courts applied the Act in tentative and cautious fashion until the 1960's, arbitration gained momentum during the 1970's and the 1980's. Despite growing judicial enthusiasm for …

Pitfalls Of Public Policy: The Case Of Arbitration Agreements, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

As the juxtaposition of these quotations suggests, judges have long held disparate views on the legitimacy and value of “public policy” considerations as a basis for legal decision making. The popular notion posits that Justice Holmes and legal realists carried the day, making public policy analysis an ordinary part of the adjudication process. The story, of course, is more complex than this legal version of Don Quixote. Many judges and lawyers, including Justice Holmes in other writings, continued to speak of adjudication in more formalist and positivist terms, with most laypersons in apparent agreement. Judge Burroughs' view of public policy …

The Revised Hague Rules On Bills Of Lading, Gabriel M. Wilner

Scholarly Works

In what amounts to a proposed new Convention to replace the "Hague Rules," the United Nations Commission on International Law (UNCITRAL) has included an Article (22) authorizing parties to a contract for the carriage of goods to provide for arbitration of disputes arising therefrom. States which become parties to the Convention would be required to give effect to such a contract. The proposed Convention gives the plaintiff much the same options with respect to either the judicial or the arbitral forum. These options as to locale tend to favor the defending party -- usually the carrier. On the other hand, …

Final Offer Arbitration: The Last Word In Public Sector Labor Disputes, Rena C. Seplowitz

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Determining The Law Governing Performance In International Commercial Arbitration: A Comparative Study, Gabriel M. Wilner

Scholarly Works

Persons entering into commercial agreements of a transnational nature have often shown a preference for the arbitration tribunal rather than the court of law as the instrument for settling disputes which may arise between them.

The parties, who may be either individuals or legal persons, such as corporations, manifest their desire to employ arbitration by providing for its use in the arbitration clause of the contract. It is generally agreed that such a clause, whether or not it is considered as part of the main contract, is consensual in nature. But the significance of the agreement to arbitrate is determined …