Arbitration

In an appropriate case the court might give leave for an arbitral award to be enforced in the same manner as might be achieved by an action on the award and so give leave for judgment to be entered in the terms of the award. The court had to make a judicial determination whether it was appropriate to enter a judgment in the terms of the award.

At common law, a party to an arbitration who had obtained a declaratory award in his favour could bring an action on the award and the court, if it thought appropriate, could make a declaration in the same terms. The purpose of s 66 of the Arbitration Act 1996 was to provide a simpler alternative route to bringing an action on the award and the court, although the latter possibility was expressly preserved by s 66(4) of the Act.