Judicial Review of Arbitral Awards in International Arbitration – A Case for an Efficient System of Judicial Review

Abstract

To strike a balance between the two important considerations of finality and fairness, a degree of judicial scrutiny of arbitral awards seems to be necessary. However, excessive judicial intervention and exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction over arbitral process and actions for annulment of arbitral awards may undermine international arbitration as a viable and effective alternative dispute settlement mechanism. This article argues that an efficient and harmonized regime of judicial review which could exclusively be exercised by the competent courts at the seat of arbitration will streamline and expedite the enforcement process and thereby increase the efficiency and reliability of international arbitration. Increased international efforts aimed at harmonizing the law and practice with respect to the scope of judicial review and the exclusivity of jurisdiction of the courts of the seat will pave the way for such a harmonized regime of international arbitration which may, in turn, obviate any need for ignoring, through the much criticized practice of enforcement of annulled awards, a judicial decision lawfully rendered to set an arbitral award aside.