仲裁,係根據當事人間之合意,基於一定之法律關係或將來可能發生爭議之處理,委託給法院以外之第三人,進行判斷之爭議解決方法或制度。所謂仲裁協議是雙方當事人,例如買方與賣方閉、定作人或承攬人間,基於契約自由原則自願地將其雙方間,已經發生或將來可能發生之爭議,提交仲裁解決之書面契約。 雖然有契約自由,但在契約自由範圍內,仍須受許多法律上之限制。時至今日,契約自由與限制,仍有並存之必要與價值,二者一體兩面,不可偏廢:一般契約如此,仲裁協議亦然。因此,仲裁協議須受限於仲裁意思自治非絕對性原則、仲裁協議內容必須符合公共秩序原則、以及仲裁協議不可違反爭議可仲裁性原則,否則仲裁協議無效,該仲裁判斷將被法院撤銷。
Arbitration is a means of setting disputes between two parties through the medium of a third party who is not partial to either of the parties to the dispute, and whose decision on the dispute is final and binding. The arbitration agreement is often times entered into by the parties to an agreement, such as between the buyer and sell in a purchase agreement, or between the project owner and the contractor, or between the contract and subcontractors in a construct contract. As a rule, the agreement is freedom, the agreement has the legal basis of government regulation. Similarly, the arbitration agreement is freedom, the arbitration agreement has the legal basis of government regulation. The arbitration agreement should specify the scope of arbitration, in case the parties may wish to limit the scope of to only certain parts of the agreement or a specific aspect of a particular disputes, or alternatively, it may be specified that arbitration applies to any possible conflict arising out of the agreement.