Law on Arbitration and Ligitation

Arbitration is a form of dispute resolution practice for the resolution of disputes outside the court whereby one or more parties are involved in the process. A third party reviews the case protocols including the evidence in the case and imposes a decision that is legally binding on both parties and which is enforceable in the courts. Litigation on the other hand refers to the process initiated between two or more parties with the objective to put into effect or defend a lawful right. Litigation is technically settled by agreement between the parties involved but may also be heard and decided by a jury or judge in a court of law.

Litigation involves all the activities associated before, during and after a lawsuit in order to enforce a lawful right. In addition, other legal processes such as negotiations, facilitations and arbitrations may also be part of the litigation process. Therefore arbitration is a process that can be implemented individually or independently and as well in the litigation process. In the process of arbitration the dispute is resolved by an impartial adjudicator whose decisions to the parties have agreed will be final and binding. Therefore arbitration like litigation is a binding process.

According to Maurer (2004), ‘‘Arbitration can help consumers settle their disputes faster and cheaper than by litigation. It commonly takes anywhere from two to five years to get a civil case before a judge; an arbitration case can often be resolved within a matter of weeks. Arbitration is frequently used in for the resolution of commercial disputes particularly in the context of international commercial transactions. In other locations, arbitration is also frequently employed in consumer and employment matters, where arbitration may be mandated by the employment terms or commercial contracts. Civil litigation is widely used by citizens who bought a particular product with other group and it is alleged to be defective and a mass claim is filled on their...