Amiables compositeurs

Arbitration term which refers to an arbitrator or an arbitral tribunal acting to propose an “fair” and “equitable” solution to a dispute, notwithstanding strict legal principles favoring one side or the other.  While the law of many civil law jurisdictions as well as the UNICITRAL Model Arbitration Law provide for arbitrators to act as amiables compositeurs, in common law systems and other legal systems an arbitrator might be acting improperly if they ignored strict legal construction.  For this reason where a jurisdiction where such an approach by an arbitrator is legally questionable, the power to act as an amiables compositeur should be explicitly stated in the arbitration agreement or clause – in jurisdictions where the approach is permitted parties should likewise consider if they wish to exclude it.

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