Arbitration: a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, wherein the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons (the "arbitrators" or "arbitral tribunal"), by whose decision (the "award") they agree to be bound. Arbitration is today most commonly used for the resolution of commercial disputes, particularly in the context of international commercial transactions and sometimes used to enforce credit obligations. It is also used in some countries to resolve other types of disputes, such as labor disputes, consumer disputes or family disputes, and for the resolution of certain disputes between states and between investors and states.
