Arbitrators who resisted these procedures found both their awards on the merits and their handling of procedural issues reviewed by the court. The arbitrator did not have the power to rule on his or her own jurisdiction and had to be referred to the courts. Courts were increasingly willing to allow disputes to be litigated through the courts even where contracts contained clear and binding arbitration agreements. Reform was needed. It came in the 1996 Arbitration Act.
Arbitrators now have the power to determine their own jurisdiction.
The court has a very limited right to interfere in the arbitration process or to review an award. The court will support the arbitration process by refusing to allow parallel litigation and by enforcing arbitration awards. Arbitrators have a wide discretion in relation to costs. Arbitrators have wide discretion to limit the scope of disclosure of documents. The simple objective of the act is to give effect to the contract between the parties in which they agreed to settle disputes by arbitration.