The "Search for Truth" in Arbitration The Civil Law View -- the German Perspective - Chapter 2 - Search for Truth in Arbitration: Is Finding the Truth what Dispute Resolution is About? - ASA Special Series No. 35

Arbitration, even international arbitration, is to a high degree deeply influenced by the background of the procedural culture of its seat, the legal education and experience of the participants and the place of the organisation administering it. Otherwise the subject of this conference would not make any sense. At the outset, one has to realise in this respect that even civil law countries have developed very divergent approaches to the "quest for the truth" in civil litigation. Take for example article 10 of the French Code civil:

"Chacun est tenu d’apporter son concours à la justice en vue de la manifestation de la vérité"

The term "chacun" includes above all the litigating parties. Nonetheless, par. 2 of the rule specifies that reasonable grounds for exceptions may exist.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

I. Always Full Proof - Beyond Reasonable Doubt?

II. The Litigant's Burden to "Substantiate" their Assertions of Facts

III. The New Idea of Taking into Consideration the Proportionality of the Costs of Litigation and Arbitration

Final Remark