Class, Mass, and Collective Arbitration in National and International Law, by SI Strong

Abstract

Class, Mass, and Collective Arbitration in National and International Law , by SI Strong, Oxford University Press, 2013. Stacie Strong is the leading world specialist of class arbitration. Her academic production in that field is impressive. Her book on class, mass, and collective arbitration was, therefore expected with great interest. It definitely meets our expectations. The book is a true encyclopaedia of class, mass, and collective arbitration. All their aspects and implications are thoroughly studied in this impressive treatise. Class and collective arbitration has drawn a lot of attention in national systems in recent years. Traditionally, class arbitration has been a US phenomenon, relatively unknown in other countries. Most legal systems have focused on what Strong refers to as ‘micro conflicts’, typically in the form of bilateral disputes between individuals or individual legal entities. While it is true that two parties’ concerns continue to dominate law and society, a lot of changes have taken place these recent years, both in terms of the types of injuries suffered and the ability to obtain legal relief. There are more and more situations where similar or substantially similar injuries can and increasingly do arise on a massive scale. When it is so, large numbers of individuals suffer identical or nearly identical injury. If, until recently, the USA was the main jurisdiction where procedural mechanisms had been developed to allow private individuals to bring substantive cases in the so-called class proceedings, other countries have started to adopt various forms of private relief to address large-scale legal injuries, generally in the form of collective redress. The book starts with a brief history of large-scale arbitration. Indeed, to appreciate the various procedures, policies, and practices surrounding large-scale arbitration, it is necessary to understand how the various devices arose, historically speaking. In …