CSI214 | Settlement of International Commercial Disputes and India

It is a widely held view that parties involved in transnational commercial/ business relationships regard mediation/conciliation and arbitration as the most suitable methods for resolving their disputes. Most often than not, parties to such contractual relationships include dispute settlement clause/s favoring either mediation or arbitration or a combination of both. Absent international legal prescriptions, both commercial mediation and commercial arbitration in international context raise peculiar law and policy issues with regard to the conduct of mediation and arbitration, the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and the recognition and enforcement of mediated settlements rendered abroad. At the international level, these law and policy problems are sought to be addressed through the adoption of unification/harmonization legal instruments.

This course is based upon the foundations of international law and transnational/ comparative jurisprudence. Thus, it is imperative that students who opt for the course should have an aptitude to learn the subject from the perspectives of international law and transnational/comparative jurisprudence.

The primary objective of the course is to help students to identify and solve legal and policy issues in the fields of international commercial arbitration and mediation with an Indian focus. To orient students to undertake further studies in the discipline and to become Indian transnational law lawyers is incidental to the primary objective.

The course is essentially based on introduction of the legal and policy issues by the course instructor. Class discussion and class participation through dialogue will be highly appreciated. Needless to say, the course is stand-alone one.

The breakup of marks is as follows: 20 marks for synopsis (Outline); 20 marks for the presentation of the draft research paper; 60 marks for the final written paper.

The following are the two suggested readings: (1) Gary B. Born, International Commercial Arbitration, 3rd edn. (Kluwer Law Publishers: 2021); (2) Anirudh Wadhwa and Anirudh Krishnan, Law of Arbitration & Conciliation (LexisNexis; 6th edn; Reprint 2019)