page_title: Arbitration Act 1979
section_title: Development of the Act
hierarchical_section_title: Arbitration Act 1979 / Background / Development of the Act
caption_attribution_description: English: James Callaghan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 03/23/1978 NLC-WHSP-C-04831-20 Jimmy Carter Library (NLJC)
context_page_description: The Arbitration Act 1979 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed arbitration law in England and Wales. Prior to 1979, arbitration law was based on the Arbitration Act 1950, which allowed use of the "Case Stated" procedure and other methods of judicial intervention, which marked English arbitration law as significantly different from that of other jurisdictions. The prior law significantly increased the cost and time required for arbitration, which made England an unpopular jurisdiction to conduct such negotiations in. As a result, while London maintained its traditional position as a centre for arbitration in insurance, admiralty and commodities trading, it failed to attract more modern forms of trade. Following pressure from industry groups, the Lord Chancellor introduced the Arbitration Bill into Parliament, having it passed hours before the dissolution of James Callaghan's government. It was given the Royal Assent on 4 April 1979, and commenced working on 1 August 1979.
context_section_description: By the 1960s, even before the increase of abuse of the Case Stated procedure, the United Kingdom was estimated to be losing £500 million a year through the movement of arbitration business to other countries. In response, the Lord Chancellor convened a Commercial Court Users Conference in 1960, and tasked them with reviewing the system; the conclusion was that the status quo should remain. With the increased use of the Case Stated procedure, more calls for reform came. In June 1977 the London Arbitration Group (LAG) was formed, taking it upon itself to make the government aware of the damage current law was causing. In 1978, in reaction to the continued pressure, the Lord Chancellor established a Commercial Court Committee to again look at the issue; their report, in June 1978, recommended changing the system so that appeal was only allowed when either the High Court permitted it, or both parties to the arbitration agreed it was necessary. This was intended to ensure that any new Act of Parliament fulfilled two roles – firstly, decreasing the use of the Case Stated procedure, and secondly, encouraging arbitrators to give reasons for their decisions.
  The report was endorsed by the government, and published the following month. After being announced in the Queen's Speech, the Arbitration Bill was introduced to the House of Lords by the Lord Chancellor in late 1978, given its second reading on 12 December 1978, and after passing through the committee stage, its third reading on 15 February 1979. Before it could be sent to the House of Commons, however, James Callaghan's government collapsed following a motion of no confidence. As "the final drama", the Arbitration Bill quickly made it to the House of Commons and was passed during the few hours it took Callaghan to get to Buckingham Palace and ask for a dissolution. Royal Assent was granted on 4 April 1979, and the Arbitration Act 1979 came into force on 1 August.
caption: James Callaghan; a motion of no confidence in his government forced the passage of the Act through the House of Commons in a few hours.
exif: {"Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.10.14", "Image DateTime": "2019:12:17 19:38:54", "Image ExifOffset": "136", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "199", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "256", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "6", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "262", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8831", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB"}