Arbitration offers possibilities which are impossible in standard litigation. Traditionally, arbitration has been connected to a more flexible decision-making process; the parties have the opportunity to influence more of the aspects involved in the arbitrators’ decision-making. Resolution of disputes following the principle of ex aequo et bono and similar principles still remains a mystery. The study focuses on these particular principles which are founded on the concept of equity, insofar as the arbitrator is authorized to resolve the dispute on the basis of unwritten equitable principles. The study analyses the possibility of resolving the dispute following such principles both from the perspective of Slovak and Czech legal systems and from the perspective of selected international instruments. Resolving disputes following equitable principles has no clearly defined criteria because it hinges on another legal concept often subject to conflicting interpretations – equity. The authors have attempted to document some of the interesting opinions published on this topic and, last but not least, to themselves contribute to a partial clarification of this phenomenon.
JUDr. Regina Palková, PhD. is research associate at the Chair of Commercial Law and Economic Law of the Faculty of Law of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. She completed her post-graduate studies in 2009 by successfully defending her dissertation on the topic: 'Arbitration procedures in commercial matters – the current state and proposals for future legal development'. Her research work continues to address issues in the realm of arbitration as well as out-of-court dispute resolution in a more general context. She manages the grant project "Out-of-court (alternative) dispute resolution in Slovakia".
e-mail: regina.palkova@upjs.sk
Prof. JUDr. Jozef Suchoža, DrSc. is a recognized authority in the field of commercial law. He is the author of several scholarly monographs and of a wealth of specialist articles and studies, and the co-author of the first comprehensive Slovak textbook on commercial law. He is a member of the Scientific Council at the Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, and an international arbiter entered in the lists of arbiters of the Arbitration Court attached to the Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry and of the Arbitration Court attached to the Economic Chamber and the Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic. He is currently acting as the project manager in charge for a project funded by the Slovak Research And Development Agency (APVV) which focuses on the issue of out-of-court dispute resolution in Slovakia (LPP-0076-09 – Out-of-court/alternative dispute resolution in Slovakia).
e-mail: regina.palkova@upjs.sk
