Application Of Soft Law In International Commercial Arbitration

Arbitration is one of the most popular dispute settlement solutions in the world and has been widely used.However,due to cultural differences and legal systems difference,there are many conflicts when parties are choosing the rules of law regulating arbitration.Soft law though lacks of forceful power but is normative,which meets the needs of international commercial arbitration.This paper mainly explores the application of soft law in international commercial arbitration,taking the UNIDROIT Principles as an example to elaborate the role of soft law in international commercial arbitration.Exploration of soft law in the application of international commercial arbitration,can help understanding soft law in-depth.In this way,soft law can be a great tool to take advantage of in international arbitration.This article is divided into four parts,to explore the soft law in the application of international commercial arbitration.The first part was divided to five small divisions.First division introduces the scope of international arbitration.Second division introduces the definition of soft law.Third division introduces the inquiry of soft law.Fourth division introduces the value of soft law in international arbitration.Fifth division introduces the wildly used soft law instruments in international arbitration.The second part takes UNIDROIT Principles as an example to illustrate its application in international commercial arbitration.Many arbitrators have chosen to apply the UNIDROIT Principles in conducting international commercial arbitration.This paper has selected several typical aspects and some typical cases to study the attitudes and methods of the Arbitral Tribunal to make us of UNIDROIT Principles.There are mainly four methods:(1)the parties choose to use it explicitly;(2)the arbitral tribunal applies it according to the provision of the contract,including as merchant's law and general legal principles;(3)when the parties have no express or implied agreement,the arbitral tribunal shall apply it directly;(4)The arbitral tribunal shall apply it to interpret the domestic law or the rules of international law.The third part introduces the considerations over applying soft law in international arbitration,including the parties' and the arbitral tribunal's consideration.The fourth part elaborates the limitation of the soft law in international commercial arbitration.The application of soft law in international commercial arbitration is not unlimited.Forced law,including enforceability rules and public policy,are the factors that restrict the application of soft law.This section is also described in conjunction with cases.