(1) A means of resolving disputes in which the disputants appeal not to judicial bodies but to individuals who are called arbiters or to a court of arbitration. The arbiters are selected by the disputants themselves or are appointed according to the procedure determined in their agreement or established by law. Arbitration is used primarily to resolve disputes over property which arise during the course of commercial operations, in making commercial shipments, in the delivery of goods, and so forth.
(2) A special organ—arbitration tribunal—for resolving disputes over property and related disputes not involving property. Two types are usually distinguished: the incidental (or isolated ) arbitration tribunal and the constantly functioning, or permanent, tribunal. The incidental, or isolated, tribunal, or court of arbitration, is only for resolving a particular case. Its composition is determined by agreement between the disputants or by a procedure established by them. This was the first type of arbitration tribunal to appear in history, originating in the Middle Ages. However, in the 19th and 20th centuries the permanent tribunal has taken precedence; this reviews all disputes brought before it for consideration which involve questions that come under its jurisdiction. A permanent arbitration tribunal is set up by chambers of commerce, government bodies, various associations, and so forth and is chosen from among persons who are included, either for a certain length of time or indefinitely, on a list of arbitrators. This list is drawn up by the governing body of the organization to which the arbitration tribunal is attached. If a permanent arbitration tribunal is appointed to resolve disputes between any parties who wish to bring their cases to it, it is classified as an open arbitration tribunal. However, if the tribunal can resolve disputes only between members of the corresponding organization (or association or system of organizations), it is considered a closed arbitration tribunal.
One type of arbitration tribunal is the so-called international one, in which the disputant parties are as a rule juridical or physical persons from different countries, but sometimes are governments directly represented in the form of one or another governmental body. For example, in the USSR there are two international arbitration tribunals in operation: the Maritime Arbitration Commission (MAK) and the Foreign Trade Arbitration Commission (VTAK), which are attached to the All-Union Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the USSR two types of national arbitration tribunals function (that is, tribunals which resolve disputes between parties within the country): government and institutional. Soviet arbitration tribunals were established after the end of the Civil War, when the economic activity of state enterprises began to be arranged on the basis of economic accounting in connection with the transition to the New Economic Policy.
In 1922 state and departmental arbitration commissions were established, but these were later abolished. On the basis of a decree by the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR of Mar. 20, 1931, entitled “On Changes in the System of Credit, the Strengthening of Work in the Area of Credit, and the Ensuring of Economic Accounting in All Economic Bodies” (SZ SSSR, 1931, no. 18, p. 166), organs of state arbitration were reestablished. These have functioned until the present time.
The present system of state arbitration tribunals includes the State Arbitration Tribunal of the USSR under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and state arbitration tribunals attached to the councils of ministers of the Union republics, to the councils of ministers of the autonomous republics, and to the executive committees of soviets of working people’s deputies on the oblast and krai levels and on the city levels in Moscow and Leningrad. Each of these types of arbitration tribunal is subordinate only to that government administrative body to which it is attached and under whose direct supervision it functions. The procedures for the functioning of state arbitration tribunals are determined by special statutes adopted by the appropriate councils of ministers and by regulations published by the State Arbitration Tribunal which is attached to the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Cases put before state arbitration tribunals are decided by an arbitrator, with the participation of responsible representatives of the disputants. Decisions go into effect immediately; as a rule, they are put into effect by the disputants themselves within a period of time set by the arbitration tribunal.
The activity of the state arbitration tribunals acquired special significance in light of the economic reforms introduced in the USSR beginning in 1965 in connection with the transition of the national economy to a new system of planning and economic incentives. Under the new system the basic indicators for the work of an enterprise or organization became the volume of marketed output, profit, economically efficient fulfillment of assignments for the most important types of output, and the meeting of demands regarding the quality of output.
In reviewing disputes which arise between parties in concluding contracts and meeting contractual obligations, the state arbitration tribunals take measures to ensure the interests of the state and the economic accounting interests of the parties, and they apply pressure on the enterprises and economic organizations to encourage the timely and proper fulfillment of the tasks before them. The tribunals also help to eliminate shortcomings in the functioning of the enterprises and economic organizations which are revealed in the course of investigation into disputes and report on these shortcomings to those bodies to which the disputants are subordinate and, in appropriate cases, to the organs of the attorney’s office.
The work of institutional arbitration tribunals proceeds from the same principles as those of state arbitration tribunals. Institutional tribunals are established at ministries and agencies (central institutions and cooperative centers) for resolving economic disputes between enterprises, organizations, and institutions subordinate to the given bodies. The institutional arbitration tribunal is usually organized as a part of the apparatus of the above-stated bodies.
V. N. ERSHOV