ABSTRACT
At first glance, recourse to the courts appears to be the obvious means by which a party to a contract can enforce their contractual rights in the event of default or noncompliance by the other party. However, in practice, a whole host of factors may militate against the commencement of litigation as a means of securing enforcement. In this chapter we consider the various ways in which the parties to a contract might go about resolving their dispute. In an introductory text of this kind, it is not possible to describe the full range of dispute resolution techniques employed by parties in disagreements about a contract. As a result, some processes, such as early neutral evaluation and the mini-trial, can only be mentioned in passing. What we are able to do is to focus on the three forms of dispute resolution most discussed in legal circles: litigation, arbitration and mediation.
