Harmony amidst Disharmony: The International Framework (The Arbitration Series – Volume 2)
Author: Fali S. Nariman Category: Legal Studies ISBN: 9789388302272 Binding: Hardback Dimensions: 9 x 6 inch Number of Pages: 356
We live in a fast-moving world of abbreviations and contractions. “International Commercial Arbitration” has been shortened and is now known by the acronym ICA. Once simply characterized as “a device designed to enmesh the legal system with the justice of the case”, it has now become a complicated overburdened activity with too much law, too little justice, too much rhetoric and too little reform.
Several years ago, the community practising international commercial arbitration was advised to avoid “the fate of the dinosaur” with Sir Michael Mustill (later Lord Mustill) adding: “Nobody has yet discovered why the dinosaurs became extinct, but it is a reasonable surmise that their bulk was a significant factor. It would be a pity if arbitration went the same way. This is unlikely to happen, but it is at least worth asking whether a course of slimming might be in order.”
General Charles de Gaulle (president of France from 1959 to 1969) was also a master of the spoken word. What he once said (in French) was equally eloquent in English: “One must not confuse the light breezes of fashion with the winds of history.” In the sphere of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), “the winds of history” have been traditionally with arbitration. But the practice of, and experimentation in, new forms of dispute resolution (particularly in the first two decades of the 21st century), shows that the winds of history are a-changing!
A must-read for the legal fraternity—lawyers, law practitioners, academics and students.
Fali S. Nariman
FALI S. NARIMAN (1929–2024) was a senior advocate, Supreme Court of India. He was appointed chairman of the executive committee of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Geneva, from 1995 to 1997. He was appointed a member of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) from 1988 to 2003. He was a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris, and later, its vice-president for a continuous period of over fifteen years from 1989 to 2005. He was inducted as a member of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) from 1988 to 2003. He was elected president of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) from 1994 to 2002 and was subsequently designated its honorary president. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in January 1991, for recognition of ‘distinguished services in the field of jurisprudence’, and the Padma Vibhushan (India’s second highest civilian award) in January 2007, for recognition of ‘exceptional and distinguished services in the field of public affairs’. He actively served as a nominated member of the Upper House of India’s Parliament from 1999 to 2005.