The Liability of Arbitral Institutions: Legitimacy Challenges and Functional Responses

The topic of civil liability in international arbitration, a controversial topic that has heretofore not been fully explored in the scholarship, is approached in an innovative fashion in this book. Recently, arbitral institutions have emerged as powerful actors with new functions in and outside arbitration processes and the author proposes to shift the debate on liability from arbitrators to the arbitral institutions. The book re-evaluates the orthodox understanding of the status, functions, and responsibility of arbitral institutions and is recommended for arbitration scholars, practitioners, and students.

It is argued that the current regulations regarding liability are inadequate given both the contractual obligations and the emerging public function of arbitral institutions and that institutional arbitral liability is therefore necessary. The book also links the contemporary functions of arbitral institutions to recent debates regarding legitimacy challenges in international commercial arbitration. Responding to these challenges, a model of institutional contractual liability is proposed that invites arbitral institutions to proactively regulate the scope of their liability.

Dr. Barbara Alicja Warwas LL.M. is a Lecturer in Commercial Law at The Hague University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.

Specific to this book:

• First book dealing exclusively with the controversial topic of liability in international arbitration
• Provides clear proposals for arbitral institutions to reform the scope of their liability
• Identifies the new, unorthodox functions of arbitral institutions