Reservation Clauses in Agreements for Obligatory Arbitration

Abstract

The question of the form to be given to reservation clauses has long perplexed the advocates of arbitration treaties. The making of the new Franco-American treaty, action taken at the Sixth Pan American Conference looking to a conference on an American arbitration convention, and more recent discussion of plans for the prevention of war have re-emphasized the problem which has commanded chief attention during four decades of sporadic effort to establish obligatory arbitration on a treaty basis. Important extensions of the principle of obligatory reference have been effected in certain bipartite arrangements since the conclusion of the World War, largely through revision of old forms by which arbitral jurisdiction was limited. Built upon past experience, these extensions are the result of efforts to shape reservation clauses so as to modify them in the interest of state security, without at the same time nullifying, the arbitral engagements. The theory of reservation clauses has found application in a variety of forms. An examination of these forms in some representative modern agreements reveals the manner in which phrases now used have evolved and especially the development occurring since 1919.