Opinion ID: 76825
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Overview of the Convention and the Convention Act

Text: 17 The Convention requires that a Contracting State shall recognize an agreement in writing under which the parties undertake to submit to arbitration all or any differences which have arisen ... between them in respect of a defined legal relationship, whether contractual or not, concerning a subject matter capable of settlement by arbitration. Convention, art. II(1). 9 When the United States acceded to the Convention in 1970, it exercised its right to limit the Convention's application to commercial legal relationships as defined by the law of the United States: 18 The United States of America will apply the Convention only to differences arising out of legal relationships, whether contractual or not, which are considered as commercial under the national law of the United States. 19 Convention, n. 29. 10 Plaintiffs assert that the United States national law definition of commercial resides in section 1 of the FAA, which defines commerce and provides that nothing herein contained shall apply to contracts of employment of seamen. 9 U.S.C. § 1. Although section 1 clearly exempts seamen's employment contracts from the FAA, see Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams, 532 U.S. 105, 109, 121 S.Ct. 1302, 1306, 149 L.Ed.2d 234 (2001), the exemption's application outside the FAA is restricted by the second and third chapters of title 9.