ARBITRATION is the adjudication by private persons appointed to decide a matter, or matters iu controversy, on a reference made to them for that purpose, either by agree ment of the disputants or by the order, or on the suggestion, of a court of law. The proceeding generally is called a submission to arbitration, or reference; the parties appointed to decide are termed arbitrators, or referees; and their adjudication is called an airard. This mode of settling disputes is not only frequently resorted to by litigants themselves, who are anxious to avoid the delay and expense of proceedings in the public tribunals, but the statute-book bears witness to the approval of it by the legis lature at various times. An old act, the 9 and 10 15, testifies the benefits of A. in strong terms, declaring that "it bath been found by experience that references made by rule of court have contributed much to the ease of the subject in the determin ing of controversies, because the parties become thereby obliged to submit to the award of arbitrators," and it proceeds to authorize and encourage merchants, traders, and others to put an end to their controversies and quarrels by means of A.; and a modern act, passed in 1833, the 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 42, ss. 39, 40, and 41, contains still more anxious provisions for rendering references to A. effectual. Since that act was passed, the practice and feeling in favor of A. has increased, so much so that there arc recent statutes which contain provisions rendering A., or private reference in certain cases, compulsory. The railway acts of 1845, the public health act of 1848, common law procedure act of 1854, and masters and workmen acts are modern examples of this legis lative peculiarity.
The matters that may be determined by an arbitrator are all personal disputes and differences which might otherwise be made the subject of controversy in the courts of civil jurisdiction. Thus breaches of contracts generally, breaches of promises of mar riage, trespass, assaults, charges of slander, differences' respecting partnership transactions or the purchase price of property, and questions relating to tolls or the right to tithes, may all be referred to A. Questions relating to real property may also be referred, such as those relating to the partition of lands of joint tenants or tenants in common, to settlements of disputed boundaries—to differences between landlord and tenant respect ing, waste—and to the title to land. Pure questions of law may also be referred to the
decision of an arbitrator. An arbitrator may have, therefore, to determine the liability of a party on a promissory note or bill of exchange, or to construe an act of parliament, or to give a judicial opinion on the effect of a will or deed. Actions at law, and suits in equity, may also be settled by A.; and this kind of reference may be made at any stage of the proceedings, sometimes even after verdict, and probably by analogy, after decree in equity. Questions relating to the future use and enjoyment of property, and future or anticipated differences between parties, may likewise be referred.
A matter, however clearly illegal, cannot be made the subject of a valid reference. But where transactions between parties have been brought to a close by a general award, apparently good, the courts have refused to reopen them on a suggestion that some legal item has been admitted in account.
There are certain matters which are specially referred to A. by statute. Besides those we have already alluded to, the following matters are all referable to A.: Ques tions relating to the expenses of prisoners, under 28 and 29 Vict. c. 126; to the regula tion of municipal corporations in England and Wales, under the 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 76; to the laws concerning prisons, under the 5 and 6 Vict. c. 98; to disputes between masters and workmen, under the 5 Gen. IV. c. 96, amended by 35 and 36 Vict. c. 46; to the laws relating to savings-banks, under the 26 and 27 Vict. c. 87; to the land rights and other possessions of certain ecclesiastical and collegiate corporations, under the 2 and 3 Will. IV. c. 80; to the mana,gement and improvement of episcopal and capitular • estates in England under the 17 and 18 Vict. c. 116; to the conveyance of mails by rail ways, under the 1 and 2 Vict. c. 98; to insolvents and to insolvency, bankruptcy, and execution, under the bankruptcy act, 1869, 32 and 33 Vict. c. 71; to the constitution of companies incorporated for carrying on public undertakings, under the 8 and 9 Vict. c. 16; to the taking of lands for undertakings of a public nature, under 8 and 9 Vict. c. 18; to the metropolitan sewers, under the metropolis management acts, 18 and 19 Viet. c. 120, 19 and 20 Vict. c. 112, 25 and 26 Vict. c. 102, and 34 and 35 Viet. c. 47; tcy'friendly societies, under the 17 and 18 Vict. c. 56, and the 38 and 39 Vict. c. 60.