If an arbitrator can issue a binding decision, why might a court still be needed to enforce it?

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This paper examines the nature of arbitration as an alternative dispute-resolution process distinct from mediation, conciliation, and judicial adjudication. It presents personal reflections drawn from the author’s professional experience as an arbitrator in Franco-German disputes.

Unlike a mediator or conciliator, an arbitrator can pass judgment, like a court, and issue a decision that is binding on the parties. The arbitrator thus has jurisdictio, as a judge does. Although a judge and an arbitrator perform the same adjudicative function, their authority comes from different sources: a judge’s power originates from a state, whereas an arbitrator’s power comes primarily from a contract.

Unlike a court, however, an arbitrator lacks imperium—the power to make the award enforceable. If a party refuses to carry out the award, only a judge or an authority of the state where the award must be enforced can provide enforceability. In this sense, the state provides backing for the arbitration system.