The Arbitrability of Corporate Disputes: Latin America and Western Europe in Comparative Perspective

The article focuses on company arbitration, analysing the most relevant alternative remedy to solve boardroom and shareholder disputes. Arbitration agreements are generally inserted in corporate statutes to resolve any potential disputes arising between the parties. An arbitration clause included in a corporation’s constitution gives providers of capital, directors, managers, employees, and stakeholders a readily available mechanism for dealing with their disputes. More specifically, the article examines the difficulties with the development of arbitration as alternative mechanism to solve inter-company disputes and tries to investigate effects, advantages and disadvantages of this legal instrument. It analyses the regulations settled by some Latin American countries in comparison with several West European civil legal systems. In view of the relative scarcity of comparative studies on this matter, the study deals with the doctrinal debate and the jurisprudential interpretations provided by the courts. The aim is to analyse the most relevant topics, like the arbitrability of corporate disputes addressing the issue of disposable rights and protection of general interests. The purpose of the article is to contribute to a better understanding of national regulations of arbitration and to compare alternative approaches.