The Journal of Dispute Resolution and the Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution are hosting their annual symposium on November 13, 2015.  This year’s program is titled, “Beyond the FAA: Arbitration Procedure, Practice, and Policy in Historical Perspective.”

Prior to the American Revolution, arbitration flourished not only in England, but also in the English colonies in North America, where customary English arbitration practice and procedure were adapted to local circumstances. Following the American Revolution, new American state legislatures passed arbitration statutes that often encouraged arbitration as a matter of public policy, while also codifying the procedures for its practice. Yet, these state statutes did not eliminate the customary systems of arbitration already in use. Neither did they replace arbitration as it was practiced by distinct groups, such as religious communities. As a result, disputants wishing to utilize arbitration could choose from a diverse array of arbitration procedures.  The purpose of this symposium is to explore the broader histories of arbitration in America, considering not only what arbitration procedure, practice, and policy looked like in early America (and in the earlier legal, cultural, or religious systems from which American arbitration was adopted), but also how those broader histories might contribute to important discussions and developments in arbitration procedure, practice, and policy today