Limits to Party Autonomy in International Commercial Arbitration

Courts and commentators have often stated that in arbitration party autonomy is everything. In effect, where the adjudicative power does not rest on party autonomy, there is no arbitration. But the papers published in this book, which were presented at a conference hosted by the NYU Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration and Commercial Law that took place in September 2015, show that while party autonomy may trigger everything, meaning the steps necessary for one to be able to speak of arbitration, it is not itself everything. Party autonomy is limited, as the papers published here clearly show. As soon as the arbitration proceedings are initiated, the parties lose at least part of their autonomy, and the issue arises of who really owns the arbitration proceedings. The further the arbitration proceeds, the more limits party autonomy encounters.