ABSTRACT
Arbitrators perform an adjudicatory function: they hear the opposing parties’ arguments and apply agreed rules to decide the disputed issues, binding the parties with their decision, rather than merely advising them. The rules governing an arbitration are ultimately determined by the contents of the parties’ agreement to arbitrate. National laws place limits on the types of disputes that can be submitted to arbitration. Arbitration can be used to resolve different types of disputes, and different laws may apply depending on the type of arbitration in question. Arbitration is far more intimately connected to human relationships. Perhaps the most commonly used expression in discussions of arbitration is “party autonomy”. Importantly, though, the independent conception of party autonomy relies upon a notion of arbitration as an entirely free-floating process, separate from government-run dispute resolution systems. Because of the fundamentally private nature of arbitration, there have always been certain types of disputes that could not be taken to arbitration.
