Browsing by Author "Toivanen, Katriina"

The principle of finality has served as one of the fundamental principles in international commercial arbitration. Accordingly, once the arbitrators render the award, it is final and binding and not subject to appeal. However, in light of recent development one can see that parties have started to include clauses providing for heightened review of arbitral awards in their arbitration agreements. Some courts have given effect to agreements on expanded review and some have not. The purpose of the thesis is to examine, whether parties can validly expand the grounds for judicial review of arbitral awards. Before going into the matter of expanded review, the study introduces the benefits of arbitration and the traditional methods parties may use in order to actively attack against the arbitral award. The focus of the thesis is on four major jurisdictions, namely the United States, France, Germany and England. By comparing case law and legislative materials of the UNCITRAL Model Law, the French Code of Civil Procedure and the English Arbitration Act, the study addresses the effects agreements on expanded review have been given in different jurisdictions. In comparing the rationale behind different court decisions the study purports to distinguish the decisive factor in determining the effect extended review provisions have on the underlying arbitration agreement. Finally the study compares the pros and cons in allowing for extended review and addresses the question, whether parties’ agreement on expanded review should be considered as a valid exercise of party autonomy or whether party autonomy should be limited by the other objectives in arbitration.