The following article is excerpted from West's Encyclopedia of American Law .
Arbitration is a well-established and widely used means to end disputes.
It is one of several kinds of alternative dispute resolution, which provide parties to a controversy with a choice other than litigation. The arbitrator's decision is usually final, and courts rarely reexamine it. Traditionally, labor and commerce were the two largest areas of arbitration. However, since the mid-1970s, the technique has seen great expansion. Some states have mandated arbitration for certain disputes such as auto insurance claims, and court decisions have broadened its scope into areas such as securities, antitrust, and even employment discrimination.