Boulle, Lawrence --- "International Arbitration and Competing Dispute Resolution Options" [2010] ELECD 432; in Hiscock, Mary; van Caenegem, William (eds), "The Internationalisation of Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: The Internationalisation of Law

Editor(s): Hiscock, Mary; van Caenegem, William

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849801027

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: International Arbitration and Competing Dispute Resolution Options

Author(s): Boulle, Lawrence

Number of pages: 27

Extract:

16. International arbitration and
competing dispute resolution
options
Lawrence Boulle*

INTRODUCTION

Since Ogg and Ugg, from rival villages, asked Igg, from a neutral third
village, to resolve the disputed sale of a pig, `cross-border commercial arbi-
tration' has been practised in many categories of disputes and in multiple
locations. The combined impetus of the lex mercatoria of medieval traders
and merchants, domestic legislative and judicial policy in contemporary
legal systems, and numerous multilateral and bilateral international trea-
ties and conventions have given status, impact and currency to the practice
of arbitration across borders.
The `internationalisation' tendencies of the current age extend to many
social phenomena, including dispute resolution systems, and this chapter
examines aspects of the internationalisation of dispute resolution in the
context of economic globalisation. It considers three topical factors rela-
tive to the management of cross-border disputes, namely the appropriate-
ness of different systems, relative degrees of privacy and confidentiality,
and the enforceability of outcomes, and to the dynamic nature of changes
in this area, including the development of regulation, standards and quality
in international practice. It reflects on possible future developments in the
internationalisation of dispute resolution, including the phenomenon of
blending and combining into so-called hybrid dispute resolution systems,
and to possible illustrative models for evolutionary development in this
area.
The chapter is woven around the central question of the extent to which
mediation provides a challenge to arbitration for the resolution of inter-
national business, investment and trade disputes.1 Among the ...