Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

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Key definition

Arbitrability definition

What does Arbitrability mean? Arbitrability describes whether a particular dispute can be resolved by arbitration rather than in court, even where an arbitration agreement exists. It is determined by the law of the seat of arbitration. Across England & Wales and Northern Ireland (Arbitration Act 1996), Scotland (Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010) and Ireland (Arbitration Act 2010, which gives the UNCITRAL Model Law force of law), the concept is recognised in legislation and case law, but there is no exhaustive statutory list of arbitrable matters. As a matter of public policy and statute, disputes are generally non-arbitrable where they are reserved to...

International arbitrability: objective and subjective issues, non-arbitrable subject-matter, English law limits, and recognition/enforcement under the New York Convention and UNCITRAL Model Law

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Practice notes

Arbitrability

As a broad rule, Arbitration can be invoked to determine almost any claim or quarrel about legal rights. This approach is widely recognised. Courts have described this as a presumption in favour of arbitrability (see, for instance, remarks of the Singapore Court of Appeal in Larsen Oil and Gas Pte v Petroprod). Yet most legal systems, England and Wales included, recognise carve-outs from that rule. Consistently with the doctrine of non-arbitrability, some matters cannot be decided by an arbitral tribunal even where they appear to fall within a valid arbitration clause (see, for example, the English High Court in RiverRock Securities v International Bank of St Petersburg). Although it is broadly acknowledged that some types of dispute are arbitrable while others are not, drawing the exact line between those classes is often difficult. In truth, ‘arbitrability’ itself is an imprecise notion, and the precise edges of the concept are therefore uncertain. It has been characterised as ‘the susceptibility of a particular kind of dispute to a binding objective decision’ (Mustill & Boyd, Commercial Arbitration, Second Edition, 2001 Companion, page 73)...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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