Party Autonomy
(1991) 30 VUWLR 257
Victoria University of Wellington Legal Research Paper Series, Cooke Paper No. 66/2017
23 Pages Posted: 4 Oct 2014 Last revised: 12 Apr 2017
Date Written: December 12, 1998
Abstract
This article is an augmented version of a paper delivered by Lord Cooke at the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution in New Delhi on 12 and 13 December 1998. In it, Lord Cooke outlines the important concept of party autonomy in arbitration law in the context of Indian, British, and New Zealand frameworks. Party autonomy is the ability of parties in arbitration to select the rules for resolving their dispute. He discusses the concept with particular reference to the ability of parties and arbitrators to select as the substantive law governing their arbitration a system of principles not being part of any specific national system of law. He focuses especially on the development of a “lex mercatoria”, which is a body of internationally applicable principles that have emerged as a result of the internationalisation of commerce, which in turn has been accompanied by the growth of international arbitration. Abstract by Elizabeth Chan
Keywords: Lord Cooke, International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, party autonomy, arbitration, international arbitration, substantive law, lex mercatoria
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