McLaren, Richard H. --- "The Court of Arbitration for Sport" [2011] ELECD 811; in Nafziger, A.R. James; Ross, F. Stephen (eds), "Handbook on International Sports Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Handbook on International Sports Law

Editor(s): Nafziger, A.R. James; Ross, F. Stephen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847206336

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: The Court of Arbitration for Sport

Author(s): McLaren, Richard H.

Number of pages: 33

Extract:

2 The Court of Arbitration for Sport
Richard H. McLaren



1. OVERVIEW OF CAS
In the early 1980s, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) perceived the need for an
adjudicative tribunal that would be independent from international sports federations
and capable of resolving international sports-related disputes. As IOC president H.E. Juan
Antonio Samaranch described it, there was a need for `a supreme court of world sport.'1
Growing commercialization and globalization of sport meant sports-related disputes
were becoming increasingly common and of a larger scale than previously seen. No one
wanted to resolve such disputes in the opposite party's national legal system. The
uniqueness of each nation and sport, with diverse rules, legal systems, opinions, principles
and philosophies of law, and goals, made it a Herculean feat to create a dispute resolution
system that would be fair to all parties involved.
Elite sport played at the global level depends upon nationalism, pride of spirit, and the
sheer excitement of competition to support its ever-increasing popularity. The fleeting
nature of sport makes expeditious, impartial, and independent dispute resolution essen-
tial to the continuing prosperity and growth of elite sport. These forces came together in
the international world of sport and forced recognition of the need for a unifying body to
assist in the development of sporting law principles. Such a body would ensure fairness
and integrity in sport through sound legal control and the harmonization of diverse laws
and reconciliation of differing philosophies. This was the challenge ...