Party Autonomy and the Rules Applicable to the Merits in International Arbitration

The contribution addresses the role of party autonomy in identifying the substantive rules to be applied by arbitrators in deciding the merits of the dispute. As will be seen, of all matters reltaing to arbitration, the determination of the rules governing the merits is probably the one in relation to which party autonomy is most far-reaching. It is also the one that most acutely raises the issue of the role of the law in the governance of private transactions and of the relation between the law and party autonomy.