Since its introduction in 1998, the British Statutory Adjudication has registered an astonishing success. In fact, section 108 Housing Grant, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, while giving any party to a construction contract the « right » to seize a neutral third party (the adjudicator) in order to settle any dispute arising during the works, at the same time improved the performance of the construction industry, expanded the parties’ jurisdictional protection and resolved the Technology and Construction Court’s congestion problems.
However, the law being silent on this subject, this institution remains difficult to define; thus, it is through the analysis of the adjudication’s characterizing features and the comparison with the other alternative dispute resolution methods that it would be tempting to bring it closer, that this article aims to demonstrate that adjudication could well be described as (temporary) arbitration.
Revue de l’arbitrage