International Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Research Essay

Arbitration is an alternative dispute resolution method (ADR) and has now become one of the preferred mechanisms chosen by parties to settle disputes of a commercial nature. There is no proper definition of arbitration and unlike court proceedings; it is a voluntary agreement agreed to by the disputing parties and the decision also known as the arbitral award is binding upon them. Arbitration is quasi-judicial in nature and an arbitrator often referred to as a private judge is a person who adjudicates on disputes submitted to him or her by the parties.1According to Sir John Donaldson, ‘arbitrators and judges are partners in business of dispensing justice, the judges in the public sector and the arbitrators in the private sector.’2 Nowadays, arbitration is an emerging trend and the popularity of such a system can be attributed to many advantages it offers compared to litigation. The main fundamental features of arbitration among many others are flexibility, confidentiality, impartiality, neutrality and party autonom