The Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal: The Evolution and Explanation of Changes to the Tribunal’s Statute

Abstract

This chapter seeks to interrogate the rationale for the establishment of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (csat) and examine how the Statute creating the Tribunal has evolved. Several applicants in the early cases before csat brought parallel litigation before the domestic courts of the United Kingdom. Arguments based on local law acted as a counterpoint to developments in the case law and Statute of csat. The resulting csat decisions delineated key principles on human rights and access to justice, which are still relevant today. csat—and the nature of the applications before it—continues to evolve, and this chapter concludes by identifying some lessons learned so far and what to expect going forward.