Do Human Rights Codes Apply to the Appointment of Arbitrators?
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom recently had to decide if a private commercial arbitration agreement could specify the religion of the arbitrator. The lower courts had gone in different directions. The trial court said that was not a problem. The Court of Appeal held that such a provision violated equality laws in the UK by requiring discrimination on the basis of religion.
In Jivraj v Hashwani [2011] UKSC 40, the Supreme Court said that arbitrators were not employees and the parties could properly (and enforceably) agree to prescribe their religion, nationality or other characteristics that would normally be . . . [more]