ABSTRACT
If the insurance or reinsurance contract contains an arbitration clause, the picture in relation to choice of law changes completely. This chapter considers the choice of law rules which will apply in such cases. It also considers the extent to which the various regimes already discussed will apply to arbitrators. An arbitration clause in a contract constitutes a self-contained contract collateral to the main contract of which it forms part. The law governing this self-contained agreement need not be the same as that which governs the rest of the contract and must be determined separately. There is in theory a distinction between the agreement to arbitrate and the actual reference to arbitration which constitutes a contract in its own right. A choice of curial law other than English law, whether expressly or impliedly chosen by the parties or imposed by the court, will incorporate any rules of that law which are inconsistent with the non-mandatory provisions of the 1996 Act.
