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Research Guide for CJCA Student Editors

This guide provides an overview of the key research tools that volunteer student editors can use to locate sources that have been referenced in papers submitted to the CJCA.

Arbitration Awards & Decisions

Citation

For guidance on citing international arbitration awards and decisions, see McGill Rule 5.2.12 International Arbitration Cases.

Example #1: Case No 6248 (1990), 19 YB Comm Arb 124 (International Chamber of Commerce).

Example #2: MCI Power Group LC et al v Ecuador (2009), ICSID Case No ARB/03/6, Decision on Annulment (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes).

Finding Tools

Finding international commercial arbitration awards and decisions can be tricky. While there are a variety of print and electronic sources for arbitration awards, not all awards are published due to confidentiality issues. To complicate matters further, there is no one source for locating all awards and decisions.

If the citation refers to a published law reporter (see example #1, above), try locating the reporter in Omni or in the list of popular reporters located below.

If the citation indicates the arbitral body, and no reporter (see example #2, above), try locating the award from the body's website or in another online collection or database of cases and awards. See below for a list of online collections and databases containing international commerical arbitration awards.

International commercial arbitration reporters

Here are the titles of some popular law reporters that contain international commercial arbitration awards and decisions. These sources are available in print and/or online through Queen's Library.  

Online collections and databases containing awards and decisions

  • CISG Database (large collection of national cases and arbitral awards related to CISG). Note: registration is now required to use this database.
  • CISG-online (all relevant CISG case law, including links to translated versions of many cases).
  • ICSID Cases (browse the list or search the publicly available cases and awards; if the text is not available, there is a citation to the source).
  • Investment Treaty Arbitration (a large collection of full-text awards that can be located chronologically, alphabetically by claimant or respondent, and there is a search engine).
  • Kluwer Arbitration (searchable collection of New York Convention decisions from national courts and awards; subscription database. (Queen's only).  Watch a demo on YouTube.
  • New York Convention Guide (access to case law on the application of the Convention by domestic courts; organized by article or by jurisdiction).
  • Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) (contains pending and past cases).
  • UNCITRAL, CLOUT (Case Law on UNICTRAL Texts) (provides summaries of court decisions and arbitral awards involving the UNCITRAL Model Law, with citations or links to full-text sources, if available).
  • Worldtradelaw.net (a great source for commentaries on WTO panel reports and arbitrations). (Queen's only).