Arbitration Law
| This chapter was reviewed in November 2024. A new section entitled "Substantive jurisdiction in investment arbitration disputes" has been included at para 9.12.1 and the case law updated throughout. The next review of this chapter is due in March 2025. |
Chapter 9
THE JURISDICTION OF ARBITRATORS
LEGISLATIVE APPROACH TO QUESTIONS OF JURISDICTION
Jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional issues
The statutory definition of “substantive jurisdiction”
9.1
Apart from in one exceptional case, arbitrators are capable of being given the exclusive power to determine the legal consequences of all of aspects of the dispute between the parties; whether or not such power has been given depends upon the proper construction of the arbitration agreement and upon whether the power of the courts to review a decision for error of law under s 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 has been excluded. The exception relates to the very jurisdiction of the arbitrators to hear the dispute. Jurisdictional issues can arise in a number of contexts, but for the purposes of the 1996 Act a question of jurisdiction is, under s 30(1) of the Act, any of the following, referred to as the “substantive jurisdiction” of the arbitrators.1