With the aim of creating an autonomous regime for the interpretation and application of the contract, boilerplate clauses are often inserted into international commercial contracts without negotiations or regard for their legal effects. The assumption that a sufficiently detailed and clear language will ensure that the legal effects of the contract will only be based on the contract, as opposed to the applicable law, was originally encouraged by English courts, and today most international contracts have these clauses, irrespective of the governing law. This collection of essays demonstrates that this assumption is not fully applicable under systems of civil law, because these systems are based on principles, such as good faith and loyalty, which contradict this approach.

Arbitration clauses in international commercial contracts are often reused from existing contracts. By so doing, the parties choose to apply, for example, either ad hoc or institutional arbitration and the UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA, SCC, Swiss or other arbitration rules without necessarily being aware of the consequences. Moreover, parties often assume that an arbitration clause has the effect of excluding any kind of interference from a court of law and of rendering any but the chosen law redundant. This book highlights the specific features of various forms of arbitration and enables lawyers to make informed choices when drafting arbitration clauses. Chapters explain the framework for arbitration, its relationship with national law, and the features of the main arbitration institutions in Europe. The book also highlights new trends in other parts of the world that may have repercussions on the theory of international arbitration.