Where the matter referred to the arbitrator for decision involves the application of the law or the interpretation of a contract on the basis of undisputed facts, then that would be a reference of a specific question of law.
Lord Russell of Killowen said: ‘My Lords, it is, I think, essential to keep the case where disputes are referred to an arbitrator in the decision of which a question of law becomes material distinct from the case in which a specific question of law has been referred to him for decision. I am not sure that the Court of Appeal has done so. The authorities make a clear distinction between these two cases, and, as they appear to me, they decide that in the former case the Court can interfere if and when any error of law appears on the face of the award, but that in the latter case no such interference is possible upon the ground that it so appears that the decision upon the question of law is an erroneous one’.
Lord Russell of Killowen
[1933] AC 592, [1933] All ER 616
Arbitration Act 1892
England and Wales
Arbitration
Updated: 30 November 2021; Ref: scu.223727