Originally from International Arbitration Law and Practice, Third Edition

32.1. Hostility to Any Review of the Merits 

Arbitration circles generally take the approach that arbitral awards are untouchable on the merits and therefore that such a review is taboo,1 and have maintained that while review of the award on procedural grounds is unavoidable and thus must be tolerated, the award should not be subject to state court review or to review by other arbitrators.

According to the general view, the merits should then remain untouched and the international conventions on commercial arbitration have respected that wish. 

In its reasons the court in Dean2 emphasized:

“A party’s choice to accept arbitration entails a trade off. A party can gain a quicker, less structured way of resolving disputes, and it may also gain the benefit of submitting its quarrels to a specialized arbitrator … Parties lose something too: the right to seek redress from the courts for all but the most exceptional errors at arbitration.”