International Commercial Arbitration - Chapter 6.1 - Transnational Litigation and Commercial Arbitration - 3rd Edition
Joseph Lookofsky is Professor of Private and Commercial Law at the University of Copenhagen. He received his B.A. in Economics from Lehigh University, his J.D. from the New York University School of Law, and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1971. He received his Danish law degrees (cand.jur. and dr.jur.) from the University of Copenhagen and joined the Law Faculty there in 1982. Professor Lookofsky has lectured on the CISG and other international commercial law topics for the Danish Bar Association (Advokatsamfund), the Duke University Law School in North Carolina, the University of Bologna (Facoltá di Giurisprudenza), the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Institut für Ausländisches und Internationales Privatrecht), and the Cornell-Paris I (Sorbonne) Summer Institute of International & Comparative Law. He is also Secretary General of the Danish Committee for Comparative Law (Association Internationale des Sciences Juridiques.
Ketilbjorn Hertz is Senior Consultant with the Danish Ministry of Justice, which he joined in 1997, and in that capacity he has participated in the drafting of important legislation, including the Bill, which led to the adoption of the Danish Arbitration Act 2005 He received degrees from the University of Copenhagen, B.A. in law in 1991, cand.jur. in 1993, B.A. in French in 1998, and Ph.D. in law in 1998.
Originally from Transnational Litigation and Commercial Arbitration - 3rd Edition
6.1. INTRODUCTION. THE ARBITRATION ALTERNATIVE
Arbitration is an alternative to litigation; it is, in fact, the primary form of “alternative dispute resolution” (ADR),1 and its tremendous popularity in commercial circles continues to grow. 2
In the case of international commercial arbitration contracting merchants from different States agree that any disputes which may arise in connection with their contractual relationship shall be resolved, not by judges in court, but by arbitrators, in private. By agreeing to arbitrate, merchants “contract out” of their right to litigate disputes in those national courts which would otherwise have jurisdiction to adjudicate;3 and such an exercise of commercial contractual freedom is generally respected under the applicable rules of both national and international law.4
6.1 Introduction: the Arbitration Alternative