Arbitral Jurisdiction

Abstract

This chapter examines the concept and source of arbitral jurisdiction. In the context of arbitration, the term ‘jurisdiction’ typically refers to the ‘power’ or ‘authority’ of the arbitral tribunal to decide a dispute. A decision about whether a tribunal has jurisdiction will frequently be made by the tribunal itself, but that decision is not and cannot be a source of its jurisdiction, and cannot be a definitive determination of that jurisdiction, because the authority of that decision depends on the very question under review. A degree of deference may be given to the tribunal’s determination of these questions by national courts, but self-evidently a tribunal may not confer authority on itself. Thus, the ‘power’ of a tribunal comes more indirectly from two sources. First, the cooperation of national courts, which may readily recognize and enforce arbitral awards and may also act in support of arbitration in various other ways. Second, the potential reputational consequences of non-compliance with an arbitral award, which may lead a party to comply with it voluntarily. The legal framework for arbitration applied by most national courts is set out in the New York Convention 1958, and this remains a key basic source of the standards which are applied to determine when an arbitral tribunal is considered to have jurisdiction.