Abstract:

International commercial arbitration is an alternative method of dispute resolution. It is regarding disputes arising out of commercial transactions conducted across national boundaries and it allows the parties to bypass litigation in their national courts. International commercial arbitration is an alternative method of dispute resolution. It is regarding disputes arising out of commercial transactions conducted across national boundaries and it allows the parties to bypass litigation in their national courts. Because of the enormous growth in transnational business, the number of commercial disputes between international parties is increasing. International commercial disputes can escalate into major trade conflicts with serious political and economic repercussions. Thus, an increased need for fast and efficient dispute resolution is developing. This need is best satisfied through extra judicial means rather than litigation in national courts. Despite all the advantages of international arbitration, it has never been considered as an entirely independent and complete dispute settlement system and as such has been traditionally assisted by national courts. Nevertheless, the optimum model for courts’ involvements in international arbitration is not clear. More importantly, given the latest development in the theory and practice of international arbitration, the necessity and nature of such involvement is under question. Accordingly, this thesis aims to determine the optimum scenario of court involvement in international arbitration in order to enhance its efficiency by providing a fairly harmonised (transnational) approach regarding court involvement in the various stages of international arbitration. Taking efficiency consideration as the main guidance and indicator in modern legal scholarship, the thesis will develop normative discourse regarding harmonization of court involvement in international arbitration based on the comparative and analytical study of two major jurisdictions, the United Kingdom and the United States, and will suggest different solutions which can minimize the need for court’s involvements through their substitution by other mechanisms such as party autonomy as well as the expansion of the competence and the authorities of arbitral tribunals.

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