Finality
Inaugural Conference Wellington 2-4 September 1988
Victoria University of Wellington Legal Research Paper Series, Cooke Paper No. 65/2017
8 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2014 Last revised: 12 Apr 2017
Date Written: September 4, 1988
Abstract
This paper comprises the notes of a speech given by Sir Robin Cooke at the inaugural conference of the Arbitrators’ Institute of New Zealand Inc in Wellington in September 1988. He begins by outlining the New Zealand legislation on arbitration, then contained in the Arbitration Act 1908 and an Amendment Act of 1938. He then provides a “run through” of the thirteen reported decisions on arbitration that had at that point come before the permanent Court of Appeal. He then reports on two patterns emerging from these cases. First, Sir Robin records that the Court of Appeal (then) had a tendency to uphold arbitration and support the finality of awards whenever reasonably possible. Secondly, he comments on the fashion for arbitral law reform, noting the movement towards uniformity in this area of law internationally, and putting forward an argument that adoption of the Uncitral Model Law might attract “arbitrations with transnational elements, particularly from Pacific rim countries”. Sir Robin then states his strong support for arbitration, and suggests that arbitration decisions should only be appealable one, perhaps straight to the Court of Appeal but “certainly by leave only and possibly confined to substantial points of law”. He concludes with a discussion of two cases that he believes emphasised the “right modern approach to arbitration”, Queensland Electricity Generating Board v New Hope Collieries [1984] UKPC 39; and Attorney-General v Barker Bros Ltd [1976] 2 NZLR 495 (CA).
Keywords: Lord Cooke, Arbitrators’ Institute of New Zealand Inc, arbitration, Uncitral Model Law, New Hope Collieries, Barker Bros, alternative dispute resolution
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