ABSTRACT
In view of the fact that business people have come to regard arbitration as their favoured means of catering for dispute resolution, commercial lawyers have recently been giving considerable thought to providing an appropriate legal setting within which arbitration can operate and so assist trade and commerce to flourish. Indeed, in the context of international arbitrations involving large sums of money, the provision of an acceptable legal framework can bestow significant economic benefits upon a state anxious to attract arbitration business. While there has been something of a renaissance in the study of arbitration law and practice, arbitration as a means of resolving disputes must not be thought of as a new phenomenon by any means; it has long been incorporated into most legal systems and stands alongside litigation as a legal means of resolving differences.
