Court of Arbitration

A Court of Arbitration is a court, sometimes outside of the official judicial system of a country, that resolves certain kinds of civil disputes, primarily between industrial or commercial entities, or between employers and employees.

The Court of Arbitration of the Australian state of New South Wales, which dealt exclusively with industrial relation disputes in the early twentieth century, has been claimed to be the first court of this type in the world.[1] The court was unique at that time as it was the first court of its type to deal with labour relations between employer and employees on a compulsory basis.[2]

Notable examples of such courts include:

  1. ^ Transcript, 1 May 2002, Lance Wright, “The Centenary of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission” – ABC Radio http://www.abc.net.au/rn/perspective/stories/2002/542681.htm
  2. ^ Vol 16-6: Trade Unionism and the New Protection Dr Geoffrey Partington Archived 2007-08-29 at the Wayback Machine