Lex Mercatoria and Arbitration:A Discussion of the New Law Merchant

by Thomas E. Carbonneau

`Some well-known international arbitrators disparage the very idea of a lex mercatoria. For them, the question of whether they are fashioning an international law merchant is idle and inconsequential academic banter. . .Other, equally active and prominent members of the international arbitration community envision the question as instrumental to the systematic legitimacy and development of transborder arbitration.' -From Chapter Two. This revised volume provides a more comprehensive view of the international arbitration process and a more focused and developed set of perspectives on the problem of the lex mercatoria than ever before. It includes several new chapters which + describe the basic advantages of arbitration in the context of international commercial litigation; + define the controversy of the lex mercatoria with specificity and supply data by which to assess it; + elaborate upon the parallel development of the lex mercatoria; + provide a modern perspective on the lex mercatoria from the vantage point of the UNIDROIT principles; and + argue for the continued need for harmonization and achieving universal transborder standards. This breadth of coverage means the revised volume provides a wider analytical framework in which to integrate and evaluate the contributions in the earlier edition.

296 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1984