Originally from Securities Arbitration: Practice and Forms - Second Edition

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§ 2.01 Introduction

This chapter considers various “jurisdictional” issues that arise in arbitration hearings. As with civil actions, the principal issues are subject-matter jurisdiction, i.e., does the forum have the power to decide a particular dispute, and personal jurisdiction, i.e., whether the forum has the power to bind a particular party to the proceeding. In judicial forums, these questions are generally resolved by reference to the various constitutional and statutory provisions that create and limit the powers of the court. The obligation to arbitrate, however, arises from the consent of the parties as manifested by an agreement between them. This agreement may be express, as in the case of a written arbitration agreement, or implied, as where a member of FINRA is deemed to have consented to be bound by the FINRA rules. Thus, most of the issues considered in this chapter depend upon the interpretation of a written arbitration agreement or of FINRA’s arbitration rules.