Part IV The Role of Arbitrators in the Development of Shipping Law, 16 The Role of Arbitrators and the Possibility of a Genuine Arbitral Case Law: The Continental Perspective »
Olivier Cachard
From: The Role of Arbitration in Shipping Law
Edited By: Miriam Goldby, Loukas Mistelis
This chapter uses maritime arbitration in Paris as a case study to discuss the possibility of a genuine arbitral case law. This possibility derives from the arbitrator being uniquely placed, in view of his or her legal and methodological freedom, to conduct ‘the free objective search for a rule’. The first section underlines that an arbitrator or an arbitral panel is in the best position to carry out this free objective search for a rule. The second section investigates whether an arbitrator is just adjudicating a peculiar dispute or if, in doing so, his findings may reach further authority. It then discusses the legal grounds given to the award. The third section focuses further on the characteristics of maritime disputes and tries to sort out how a balance between private and public interests is met. It also examines how the market arbitrators consider standard terms.
