ARBITRATOR - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

ARBITRATORAuthored

The Law Mind • 1441 words

Definition

A private individual, selected by disputing parties (or, in some contexts, appointed by a court or institution), who is vested with authority to hear evidence and render a binding or advisory decision resolving the controversy. The arbitrator occupies a quasi-judicial role outside the formal court system, deriving authority not from the state but from the agreement of the parties or from a governing arbitration statute.

The term carries two related but distinct senses in legal usage:

1. Consensual arbitrator: A neutral third party chosen by mutual agreement of the parties to a dispute, empowered by that agreement—and by applicable arbitration law—to hear and decide the matter. This is the predominant modern meaning and the sense governing most domestic and international commercial arbitration.

2. Court-appointed or statutory arbitrator: In some jurisdictions and procedural contexts, a court may refer a matter to arbitration without full party agreement, or an arbitration panel may be constituted partly or entirely through a judicial appointment process. The arbitrator in this context draws authority from a combination of statute and, often, residual party consent.

Arbitrators are distinguished from judges by the source of their authority, the informality of proceedings, and the limited grounds on which their awards may be reviewed. They are distinguished from mediators by their power to impose a decision rather than merely facilitate settlement.

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Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "A person to whom the authority to settle or judge a dispute is delegated."

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "A person, or one of two or more persons, chosen by parties who have a controversy, to determine their differences." Webster's also recorded a broader literary sense: one who governs or decides without constraint — "Heaven's high Arbitrators" (Milton).

The common and legal definitions overlap significantly, but the legal term carries precise structural weight that ordinary usage does not. In law, an arbitrator's authority is bounded by the submission agreement, applicable procedural rules, and statutory frameworks that determine what may be arbitrated, how the arbitrator is selected, and how narrowly courts may review the result. The literary sense of an arbitrator as a sovereign or unchecked ruler is almost the opposite of the legal sense, where arbitral authority is carefully circumscribed.

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Common Confusion

ARBITRATOR vs. MEDIATOR: An arbitrator decides; a mediator facilitates. A mediator has no power to impose a resolution. The confusion arises because both appear in "alternative dispute resolution" contexts and both are neutrals. In research, conflating the two distorts the legal effect of any resulting agreement or award.

ARBITRATOR vs. UMPIRE: In multi-arbitrator panels, when party-appointed arbitrators disagree, an umpire (or neutral arbitrator) may be called in to resolve the deadlock. Older sources, including Bouvier's, treat the umpire as a distinct figure summoned only upon the arbitrators' failure to agree. Modern institutional rules have largely collapsed this distinction into the concept of a neutral or chair arbitrator, but the older terminology appears with regularity in historical records and pre-twentieth-century instruments.

ARBITRATOR vs. REFEREE: Bouvier's noted that "referee" was coming into common use as a synonym for "arbitrator" but cautioned that it was "in its origin of broader signification and less accurate." In contemporary practice, the terms serve distinct functions: a referee typically acts under court appointment within litigation, while an arbitrator acts outside the court system pursuant to agreement. Researchers should not treat these as interchangeable when reading historical documents.

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Why It Matters in Research

The role and legal status of an arbitrator have shifted substantially across time, and research in historical sources requires attention to those shifts.

Pre-twentieth-century materials treat arbitration as entirely creature-of-contract. The arbitrator's powers flowed from the submission agreement, period. Courts viewed arbitration skeptically and reserved broad authority to vacate awards for legal error, excess of power, or even procedural irregularity. Researchers reading nineteenth-century cases will find arbitration doctrine that looks almost nothing like the deferential, pro-enforcement posture of modern law.

The Federal Arbitration Act (1925) was the turning point for U.S. practice. After the FAA, the arbitrator's award became presumptively enforceable and reviewable only on narrow statutory grounds. Researchers should be alert to the pre/post-FAA divide when tracing the scope of arbitral authority or the enforceability of awards.

Arbitrability — the threshold question of who decides whether a dispute goes to arbitration at all — has become its own substantial body of law. Whether an arbitrator or a court resolves arbitrability depends on the language of the arbitration agreement, particularly delegation clauses. This is a critical research node: historical sources have virtually nothing to say on this question because it is a product of modern FAA jurisprudence.

In multi-arbitrator panels, the historical distinction between arbitrators and umpires is preserved in many nineteenth and early twentieth-century instruments. Corpus researchers should not assume that "umpire" designates a separate proceeding — it often designates a tiebreaker within a single arbitration.

Pennsylvania receives particular treatment in historical sources (Bouvier's flags it explicitly) because of early and extensive state arbitration legislation. Researchers working with Pennsylvania materials from the colonial or early republic period will encounter a distinct statutory framework not representative of general common law arbitration.

International and maritime arbitration introduces further complexity. Arbitrators in London Maritime Arbitration, ICC, and ICSID proceedings operate under different appointment rules, standards of conduct, challenge procedures, and award enforcement regimes than domestic commercial arbitrators. The New York Convention (1958) is the governing instrument for recognition of foreign arbitral awards and treats the arbitrator's authority in ways that diverge from domestic FAA doctrine.

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Historical Dictionary Support

The historical sources converge on a core definition: a private, disinterested person to whom disputed matters are submitted by consent of the parties for decision. Burrill cites Blackstone's Commentaries (3 Bl. Com. 16) for this formulation. Rapalje & Lawrence add the clarification that arbitrators generally decide questions of fact, and note that in some cases appointment may be compulsory by court order — a nuance absent from the simpler Burrill and early Black's formulations.

Black's 2nd edition recovers a Roman law distinction of some scholarly interest: the arbiter in Roman practice was appointed by the praetor to decide bona fidei actions according to equity (ex aequo et bono), while the judex was bound to strict law. This equity-inflected conception of the arbitrator as empowered to decide by fairness rather than rigid rule echoes in modern arbitration clauses authorizing arbitrators to decide ex aequo et bono or as amiable compositeurs, a concept well recognized in international arbitration but rarely encountered in domestic U.S. practice.

Bouvier's provides the most detailed treatment, including appointment mechanics (single arbitrator; party-appointed arbitrators with umpire fallback), subject-matter limits (crimes generally excluded, qui tam actions possibly excluded), and the rule of liberal construction applied to awards. The principle that an award constitutes a final and conclusive judgment on all referred matters — res judicata as between the parties — is stated by Bouvier's and remains good law, though shaped today by the FAA's limited review standards.

What the historical dictionaries miss almost entirely: the modern doctrine of arbitrability, the FAA's preemptive force over state arbitration law, delegation clauses, class arbitration waivers, and the structural role of arbitral institutions (AAA, JAMS, ICC). For these, historical sources are silent and the researcher must turn to the encyclopedia entries and modern case law.

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Jurisdictional Note

In the United States, the Federal Arbitration Act governs most arbitration agreements in interstate commerce and broadly preempts conflicting state law, but states retain authority to regulate arbitration on generally applicable contract grounds. International arbitrations seated in the U.S. may be governed by the FAA's Chapter 2 (New York Convention) or Chapter 3 (Inter-American Convention), materially affecting how arbitrators are selected and how awards are enforced.

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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

Arbitration — Federal Arbitration Act (9 USC) and Enforceability | The Law Mind Civil Procedure & Evidence Encyclopedia (civpro_123)
Arbitration — Arbitrability, Delegation Clauses, and Unconscionability | The Law Mind Civil Procedure & Evidence Encyclopedia (civpro_124)
Maritime Arbitration — New York Arbitration, London Arbitration, and International Conventions | The Law Mind Military, Veterans & Admiralty Law Encyclopedia (military_57)

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ARBITRATORmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

A private, disinterest- ed person, chosen by the parties to a disputed question, for the purpose of hearing their

ARBITRATORmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

ticular reference may be made to the statutes of Pennsylvania, in which state the legislation on the subject of arbitration has been extensive and pecu- liar. Any matter may be determined by arbitration which the parties may adjust by agreement, or which may be the subject of a suit at law. Crimes, however, and per- haps actions (qui tam) on penal statutes by common informers, cannot be made the subject of adjustment and composition by arbitration. See SUBMISSION. Any person who is capable of making a valid and binding contract with regard to the subject may, in general, be a party to a reference or arbitration. Every one is so far, and only so far, bound by the award as he would be by an agreement of the same kind made directly by him. For example, the submission of a minor is not void, but voidable. See SUBMISSION. At common law it is entirely voluntary, and depends upon the agreement of the parties, to waive the right of trial in court by a jury. An agreement for arbitration at the re- quest of either party is not a defence to suit. where no arbitration has been de- manded; 25 Neb. 505. A submission to arbitration is subject to revocation before an award; 126 Ill. 72; 35 Fed. Rep. 22; 139 Mass. 463; 3 Story 800; 91 Pa. 232; and it is also revoked by the death of one of the partics; 36 Fed. Rep. 408. In Pennsylvania, however, there exist compulsory arbitrations. Either party in a civil suit or action, or his attorney, may enter at the prothonotary's office a rule of reference, wherein he shall declare his determination to have arbitrators chosen on a day certain, to be mentioned therein, not exceeding thirty days, for the trial of all matters in variance in the suit between the parties. A copy of this rule is served on the opposite party. On the day appointed, they meet at the prothonotary's and endeavor to agree upon arbitrators. If they cannot, the prothono- tary makes out a list, on which are in- scribed the names of a number of citizens, and the parties alternately strike, each, one of them from the list, beginning with the plaintiff, until only the number agreed upon, or fixed by the prothonotary, are left who are to be the arbitrators. A time of meet- ing is then agreed upon, or appointed by the prothonotary if the parties cannot agree; at which time the arbitrators, having been sworn or affirmed justly and equitably to try all matters in variance submitted to them, proceed to hear and decide the case. Their award is filed in the office of the prothono- tary, and has the effect of a judgment, subject, however, to appeal, which may be entered at any time within twenty days from the filing of such award. Act of 16th June, 1836; Pamphl. Law 715; see, also, act of 1874. This is somewhat similar to the arbitrations of the Romans. There the prætor selected, from a list of citizens made for the purpose, one or more per- sons, who were authorized to decide all suits sub- mitted to them, and which had been brought before him. The authority which the prætor gavo them conferred on them a public character, and their judgments were without appeal. Toullier, Droit Civ. Fr. liv. 8, t. 8, c. 4, n. 820, See, generally, ARBITRATOR; SUBMIS- SION; AWARD. Consult Caldwell; Stephens; Watson, Arbitration; Russell, Arbitrator; Billings; Kyd; Loring: Reed, Awards; Bacon, Abridgment; Morse, Arb. For arbitration between nations, вее

ARBITRATORmain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

In Practice. A private extraordinary judge, to whose decision matters in controversy are referred by consent of the parties. Worcester, Dict. Referee is of frequent modern use as a synonym of arbitrator, but is in its origin of broader signifi- cation and less accurate than arbitrator. Appointment. Usually, a single arbi- trator is agreed upon, or the parties each

ARBITRATORn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

A person, or one of two or more persons, chosen by parties who have a controversy, to determine their differences. See Arbitration. One who has the power of deciding or prescribing without control; a ruler; a governor. Though Heaven be shut, And Heaven's high Arbitrators sit secure. Milton. Masters of their own terms and arbitrators of a peace. Addison.

arbitratornoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.

A person to whom the authority to settle or judge a dispute is delegated.

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