International arbitration: three salient problems

In: Hersch Lauterpacht memorial lectures

Abstract

The vitality or, alternatively, vitiation of the international arbitral process remains a pressing subject. The explosion of inter-State, investor-State, and international commercial arbitration in recent years magnifies the importance of the subject. This second edition combines the historical analysis of the first edition with a survey of the continued salience and contemporary developments for each of the three problems identified: (i) the severability of the arbitration agreement; (ii) denial of justice (and now other possible breaches of international law) by governmental negation of arbitration; and (iii) the authority of truncated international arbitral tribunals. The international arbitral process continues to be fortified against unilateral attempts to derail it and, to that end, this book will be a valuable guide for practitioners and scholars alike.