ABSTRACT
There are currently some dozens of arbitral institutions of differing sizes and importance throughout the world, located in virtually every significant commercial centre. Many more such organisations could be cited and it is clear that London in particular has a long history of trade associations promulgating their own rules and procedures for dispute resolution, sometimes peculiar to particular trades. But all embraced within the succession of English Arbitration Acts from 1889 onwards and all with procedures falling within the now generally accepted parameters of arbitration. The United Nations was established within months of the end of the war and, by 1958, had published what was to become the most far-reaching and influential instrument in the promotion of international arbitration, the New York Convention. One of the significant commercial functions of arbitral institutions is the holding of advanced funds for the payment of arbitrators' fees and expenses and indeed the institution's own fees and expenses.
