Good Faith in International Commercial Arbitration

This book demystifies the effectiveness of good faith in international commercial arbitration law.

In the growing universe of international commercial arbitration, it is more pressing than ever to discuss the role of good faith and challenge residual conservative skepticism regarding its usefulness. The book employs principles, standards and concepts which are normatively ingrained in good faith. These include the principle of pacta sunt servanda, the estoppel doctrine, the transnational standard of cooperation and fair dealing among merchants. It also discusses the pertinence of good faith to corrective justice, proportionality, prohibition of discrimination and unconscionability, international public policy and due process, among other concepts. This granular approach demonstrates how good faith is integrated into the practice of international commercial arbitration. The book sheds light on the technical functions of the principle in parties’ substantive protection, contractual interpretation and arbitral procedure, with an ultimate view to reinforcing the soundness and persuasive value of arbitral decision-making. Throughout, the book establishes a uniform and enforceable conceptualization of good faith in transnational disputes.

The book will be of interest to practitioners and researchers in the fields of commercial law, arbitration, transnational disputes and international law.

George Martsekis is an Associate at Plesner’s International Arbitration Practice Group in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he focuses on complex and high-value investment and commercial arbitration cases. He holds a PhD (Summa cum Laude) from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He is also an attorney-at-law licensed to practice before the Court of Appeals in Greece. George possesses one LLM from Queen Mary University of London (Merit) and another LLM from Georgetown University Law Center (Distinction & Dean’s List). He has served for several years as a foreign associate and consultant at national and international law firms in New York, Washington D.C., London and Athens in the field of international arbitration, public international law as well as corporate and commercial law.