The Seat of Arbitration: To What Extent does it Influence Important Aspects of the Arbitration Process?

Disputes in the world today can be perceived as one of the negative impacts of globalization. They arise in diverse forms and milieus including in the field of business. Most business entities nowadays find solace in referring their disputes to arbitration than litigation. Even in the midst of such considerations, the seat still remains a mother concept in arbitration that gives birth to others such as the law governing the procedural aspects of the arbitration, the supervisory role of the courts over certain aspects of the arbitration like the award as well as the enforceability of the award. This paper will there seek to provide answers to the questions; what is a seat of arbitration? What is the difference between seat and Venue of hearing? What to consider when making the choice of a seat? And, how important is a seat to important aspects of arbitration? Probing into concepts such as party autonomy, an arbitration clause and the election and competence of the arbitrators are not within the scope of this paper