Report No. 76

1.9. Institutional arbitration in the U.S.A.-

Although individuals frequently agree, either by contract or after a dispute has arisen, that a dispute will be arbitrated by some specific procedures, the majority of arbitrations in the U.S.A.are held under the auspices of organisations that have procedures for arbitration as an explicit part of their trading rules, bylaws or constitutions. Such "institutional arbitration" has a long history in the U.S.A. The New York Chamber of Commerce had arbitration facilities from the year 1761 to 1920, and the New York Stock Exchange provided for arbitration of member's disputes in its 1817 constitution.

Trade associations frequently provide the machinery for settling disputes among members, and occasionally such facilities are available to non-members as well. In some instances an association has joined several others to provide joint arbitration machinery. Additional facilities for handling disputes by arbitration were made available through the auspices of the American Arbitration Association, a non-profit making organisation that maintained a panel of arbitrators and provided administrative services for judging both labour and commercial disputes.