Some reflections on the Willem C Vis and Vis East International Commercial Arbitration Moots: Negotiating and bridging the civil-common divide

• Main Authors: CHEN, Siyuan, CHAN, Bethel Ruiyi, LI, Eden Yiling
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2017
• Subjects: Commercial Law; Dispute Resolution and Arbitration; Higher Education
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2230; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/4182/viewcontent/IJAL_Volume_6_Issue_1_Chen_Siyuan__Bethel_Chan_Ruiyi___Eden_Li_Yiling.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This article draws from the co-authors’ personal experiences of competing in the Willem C. Vis and Vis East International Commercial Arbitration Moots and highlights the importance of awareness of diversity in legal traditions. The article focuses on points of divergence between the civil and common law jurisdictions in three main aspects: substantive law, procedural rules and advocacy techniques. Specifically, the article discusses the doctrine of good faith in the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the group of companies doctrine, and the concept of discovery and disclosure in the International Bar Association Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration. The latter two topics featured prominently in the 22nd and 23rd Vis moot problems respectively. The article illustrates how Vis moot participants can develop and present their arguments in a manner that gains traction with civil law and common law arbitrators alike by appealing to concepts and terminology that are familiar to them. The article also explores how international commercial arbitration provides scope for borrowing concepts from a wide range of legal traditions, so long as the applicability of these concepts is grounded in the parties’ common intentions and expectations as reasonable businessmen.