English Arbitration Practice

Abstract

is a term of wide compass. In addition to its primary meaning of adjudication, it is often used where conciliation would be more appropriate. This ambiguity is particularly marked in the field of employment and industrial relations; the Civil Service Arbitration Tribunal, for example, like the recently superseded National Arbitration Tribunal, is principally concerned with fixing rates of pay. Arbitration of this kind is entirely outside the scope of this article. In its more restricted sense, arbitration in English law covers three types of extra-judicial adjudication. Arbitration proceedings may arise (i) from an arbitration agreement (or submission) voluntarily entered into by the parties; (2) from an order of the court compelling the parties to settle their dispute by arbitration, e.g., a reference from a High Court judge to an Official Referee; and (3) from statutory provisions, such as are commonly found in enactments dealing with housing, town and country planning, land, building, rating, health and nationalization. Although much of what follows would apply to compulsory arbitration by order of court and to statutory arbitration under act of Parliament, this article purports to deal only with voluntary arbitration, and in particular with arbitration in the field of commerce.1