Permanent Court Of Arbitration As A Centennial Institution – An Analysis Of The Indian Experience Over The Century

Abstract

The dynamism of law as a discipline necessitates constant change and development to keep up with the requisites that a developing and ever-changing society brings forth. As such, any institution within the legal domain that completes its centennial anniversary deserves to be studied and analyzed since institutional longevity is not common within the discipline. The "Permanent Court of Arbitration" (PCA) is one of those rare legal institutions that has withstood the ravages of time, having recently completed a hundred and twenty years of its existence. Initially conceptualized as an institution of pacific dispute settlement, comprising arbitration, conciliation, mediation, and inquiry as methods of dispute settlement amongst nations, in a 19th-century global regime, the fact that the two world wars since its establishment, as well as the multitude of changes in the global socio-political regime, hasn't made it completely redundant is a testament to the farsightedness of its founding fathers.

In light of these facts, this paper has tried to look into the historical background that contributed to the establishment of the PCA in the first place, and then attempt to examine its procedural intricacies, which have perhaps been the most vital in preventing its continued operation even after a century of its initial conceptualization. Subsequently, the paper has looked at how India has fared in its endeavors into the PCA’s regime and ultimately tries to determine the significance of the PCA as an institution of pacific dispute settlement today, and also, in the coming decades.

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