Abstract:
This article postulates the constitutional ethos of
upholding contracts entered between parties on the
principle of good faith in practice. This is aligned to the
international principle of respecting party autonomy
between parties in court. A party cannot easily negate
upon a contract that stipulates that a dispute must be
referred to arbitration and furthermore that the arbitration
award is binding upon the parties and not subject
to appeal. This article aims to discuss that there is judicial
enforcement of arbitral awards in South African
courts. There is no distinction between national and
international enforcement of arbitral awards. The principle
of party autonomy is the cornerstone of the
enforcement of arbitral awards. From a South Africa
perspective, both national and international legislation supports the recognition and enforcement of arbitral
awards. This article elucidates the intricacies of the
enforcement of arbitral awards and the protection of
party's interests to the proceedings. This article explores
the consequences of the antithetical approach to arbitration
agreements and proceedings. The judiciary's
practice is to uphold the contractual principle of consensus
between the parties, as opposed to allowing parties to walk away from awards on frivolous reasons
and renegading upon contractual terms.
