Arbitration
was largely present in jewish law as early as Antiquity and the Middle Ages,
and remained in place even when autonomous Jewish communities existed with a
network of ordinary courts. Arbitral tribunals could be chosen principally for
disputes relating to matters involving the payment of a sum of money (dinei
mamonot), as opposed to questions concerning man's relationship with God (rules
relating to the Shabbat, food prohibitions, prayers, etc.). Certain provisions
relating to business law are treated as optional under jewish law. Since the
emancipation of Jews in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, the ordinary
community courts lost their exclusive jurisdiction to deal with disputes
between Jews. The latter could nevertheless refer their disputes (subject to
limits imposed by national law) to a rabbinic tribunal ruling as an arbitral
tribunal. There thus exist in various significant Jewish communities (USA,
Great Britain, France) arbitral institutions which rule in accordance with
Hebrew law. One can identify in these arbitrations most of the questions which
preoccupy lawyers involved in arbitration law.