Part IV The Role of Arbitrators in the Development of Shipping Law, 15 The Role of Standard Forms and Arbitrators: In Developing a Transnational Law of Shipping »
Clare Ambrose
From: The Role of Arbitration in Shipping Law
Edited By: Miriam Goldby, Loukas Mistelis
This chapter reflects on the findings and conclusions in Chapter 14. It points out various factors that have given shape to the kind of arbitration service favoured today, including the desideratum of confidentiality that drives a number of disputants to choose arbitration over litigation in the courts. In view of the fact that standard forms tend to be simply a neutral starting point for negotiation rather than unchanging legal rules, and there is a tendency for disputes to be decided by arbitrators against a backdrop of domestic law, from a practical perspective it is unproductive to focus on whether and to what extent there might be a substantive transnational shipping law and what the arbitrator’s role may be in this regard. Having said that, the chapter argues for the publication of more arbitral awards and the need to ensure that arbitral awards acquire transnational legitimacy.
