2 Agreement to Arbitrate

Subject(s):

Arbitrability — Admissibility — Confidentiality

This chapter further explores the element of the agreement to arbitrate, which serves as the foundation stone of international arbitration. It describes the consent of the parties to submit to arbitration-a consent that is indispensable to any process of dispute resolution outside national courts. The chapter examines and compares the two basic types of arbitration agreement: the arbitration clause and the submission agreement. An arbitration clause looks to the future, whereas a submission agreement looks to the past. The first, which is most common, is usually contained in the principal agreement between the parties and is an agreement to submit future disputes to arbitration. The second is an agreement to submit existing disputes to arbitration.