Agora: International Commercial Arbitration by Gary Born

Abstract

This book is superb. It is truly comprehensive and beautifully written. It fears not to wade into the hardest issues in arbitration. It addresses them with undeniable clarity and makes bold judgements, even while acknowledging the strength of the opposing positions. In the end, anyone approaching any serious issue in international commercial arbitration will want to see what Born has to say and the authorities he has collected on the topic. As I am reviewing in particular the last 1,000 pages or so, I will start where most readers will: at the back, more specifically, the index. An index in a book like this is, of course, essential. An otherwise unknown nineteenth century London antiquary named Francis Douce has gone down in history for (aside from a museum bequest) observing that ‘the man who published a book without an index ought to be damned ten miles beyond Hell, where the Devil could not get for stinging nettles’.30 I agree. But there are indices, and there are indices. A well-done index is a marvellous thing. This one is very well done. It is aimed at the practitioner with a passing familiarity with the field. Thus, its entries correspond to the way a practitioner would put the question. You want to know about ‘conflicts of interest’? No problem. Would that be ‘arbitrators’ (see ‘impartiality and independence’) or ‘counsel’ (go straight to p. 2,313)? ‘Competence-Competence’? You'll find it under that term, and also under ‘jurisdiction, of arbitrators’ and cross-referenced as ‘Kompetenz-Kompetenz’. But you do need to have a passing familiarity with the field. You won't find an entry for ‘arbitration clauses’, the term my contract-writing partners will usually use. You need to remember that in the field they are more often called ‘arbitration agreements’. If there is any quibble here it is …