Course Catalogue

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Where a dispute arises between parties to an international commercial transaction, two options are available. The first is to have the dispute adjudicated by a domestic civil court; the second, which statistically is far more significant, is for the parties to agree to submit it instead to an international arbitral tribunal. The first possibility is covered in the separate honours course 'International Commercial Litigation', the second is the focus of this course. It aims to examine the ability of parties to agree to have their disputes adjudicated extra-judicially, by resorting to panels of privately appointed arbitrators and often under the supervision of arbitral institutions, as well as the conditions under which they may do so. It will also explore the arbitral process (starting with the constitution of the arbitral tribunal and concluding with the rendering of an arbitral award), as well as the circulation of arbitral awards (i.e. the conditions under which they may be recognised and enforced by national authorities). Students will be introduced to this highly idiosyncratic and consequential area of the law through a combination of theoretical and practical perspectives. We will therefore cover questions related to the specific nature, development and legitimacy of arbitration, but also the most important practical issues that arise in the arbitral process. The course will be divided in four sections: (1) an introduction to the phenomenon of international arbitration and its general legal framework; (2) the validity and scope of arbitration agreements; (3) the different stages and features of the arbitral process; and (4) the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards. Throughout, students will be asked to combine a wide variety of legal sources, including international treaties, domestic legislation such as the Scottish Arbitration Act, case law from a variety of jurisdictions, arbitral precedents, and comparative and transnational legal materials.

2-hour seminars.

This course is only available to LLB students.

None.

None.

120 minute final exam, amounting to 100% of the grade. It will consist in a mix of essay and problem questions.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

1. Introduce the practical reality of international arbitration - the widespread use of arbitration in international commerce, the typical structure of the arbitral process and the various institutions that tend to be involved; 

2. Explore the main objectives and rationale for international arbitration as a particularly successful institution in the commercial domain, as well as the main theoretical approaches to this field (in particular the contractual, territorialist and transnational approaches);

3. Offer a thorough overview and analysis of the relevant legal sources, with particular regard to international legal materials (especially the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and the UNCITRAL Model Law), key domestic legal systems (including the Scottish Arbitration Act) and the rules elaborated through transnational practice; 

4. Provide a firm foundation of knowledge on the principles and rules of law applicable to arbitration agreements, the arbitral process and the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards;

5. Present a detailed examination of some selected debates and controversies, on key topics such as the foundation and limits of private autonomy, the nature of the role of arbitrators in comparison to that of judges, the goals and effectiveness of arbitration, and the relevance of public interests

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Explain the essential structure of the arbitral process

2. Explain the essential legal principles, sources, objectives and trends of international arbitration

3. Apply coherently the most important legal texts that govern international commercial arbitration to hypothetical disputes

4. Evaluate the probability of success of an argument in an international arbitration dispute

5. Identify and evaluate arguments in relation to the most controversial aspects of the law of international commercial arbitration and participate in debates on these issues

Completion of the summative assessment.