Arbitration

There was no duty on a judge, in giving reasons, to deal with every argument presented by counsel in support of his case. The same applied to arbitral tribunals. A failure to deal with an argument was not the necessary equivalent of a failure to deal with an issue under the Arbitration Act 1996, s 68. That section was designed to cover only those essential issues which had been put to the tribunal and which were necessary to be dealt with for a fair decision on the claims.

It did not mean that the tribunal had to decide all issues raised by the parties. The legislative purpose of s 68(2)(b) was to ensure that all crucial issues were dealt with. It might be that certain issues would fall away in the course of a tribunal’s deliberations. The question whether or not the tribunal had failed to deal with an essential issue could not be decided on