Lord Bramwell's Arbitration Code 1884-1889

Abstract

THE LCIA celebrates its centenary as one of the oldest arbitration institutions still extant.1 On 23 November 1892 it was founded as the London Chamber of Arbitration at the Guildhall in the City of London in the presence of a large and distinguished gathering including the President of the Board of Trade. The institution was renamed in 1903 as the London Court of Arbitration; and it moved from the Guildhall to the premises of the London Chamber of Commerce in 1905. It acquired in 1981 its present name, the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA);2 the LCIA published its new Arbitration Rules ‘for world-wide use’ in 1985; it was reorganised in 1986 and moved to new premises in the City of London. For an elderly historical institution rooted in English arbitration practice, the LCIA has enjoyed a significant revival as an international arbitral institution – a formidable achievement secured over the last decade by the work and dedication of the LCIA's President, Sir Michael Kerr, and its Registrar, Bertie Vigrass OBE, under the auspices of the Corporation of the City of London, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. In this contribution to the LCIA's centenary, we look at the past; and we identify the origins of an old text closely associated with the LCIA's foundation and still relevant for the future of English commercial arbitration: Lord Bramwell's Arbitration Code of 1884–1889. This text never became English law; but as a draft legislative code, it was well known to those attending the LCIA's foundation in 1892; and the LCIA's birth was no sudden or isolated historical event in the development of English commercial arbitration. The LCIA originated from a resolution of the City of London's Court of Common Council on 5 April …