Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

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I. THE “UNRULY” ALLIANCE

“Public policy” has always been a source of concern for international lawyers. According to an old English dictum, public policy is “… a very unruly horse, and once you get astride it you never know where it will carry you. It may lead you from sound law.”1 The common-law tradition continues to cherish the “unruly horse” metaphor, convinced that public policy can at any time carry the courts to unpredictable destinations.2 The civil-law tradition regards the more or less analogous notion of ordre public as an inveterate “chameleon,” and thus, no less a threat to legal certainty and predictability.3