The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization with 122 member states. It was established in 1899 to facilitate arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution between states. Since 1913 the seat of the PCA is the Peace Palace in The Hague. The PCA has now developed into a modern, multi-faceted arbitral institution that is perfectly situated at the juncture between public and private international law. Thus it is able to meet the rapidly evolving dispute resolution needs of the international community.
Today the PCA provides multiple services for the resolution of disputes involving various combinations of states, state entities, intergovernmental organizations, and private parties. The PCA's Secretariat, the International Bureau, headed by its Secretary-General, provides administrative support to tribunals and commissions. Its caseload reflects the breadth of PCA involvement in international dispute resolution, encompassing territorial, treaty, and human rights disputes between states. It also deals with commercial and investment disputes, including disputes arising under bilateral and multilateral investment treaties. The PCA can assist in the selection of arbitrators, and may be called upon to designate or act as appointing authority. The PCA is also a center for scholarship and publication, and a forum for legal discourse.
This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research on the Permanent Court of Arbitration. It provides the basic legal materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library's subject heading (keyword) Permanent Court of Arbitration is instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.
Sources of international law
Treaties
- Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes [July 29, 1899]
- Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes [October 18, 1907]
Case-law
- Bosman, L. and Clark, H. (eds.),The South China Sea Arbitration (The Republic of the Philippines v The People's Republic of China): Part 2: Award (12 July 2016), The Hague, Permanent Court of Arbitration, 2019. [e-book]
- Bosman, L. and Clark, H. (eds.), The South China Sea Arbitration (The Republic of the Philippines v The People's Republic of China): Part 1: Award on Jurisdiction and Admissibility (29 October 2015), The Hague, Permanent Court of Arbitration, 2019. [e-book]
- Bosman, L. and Clark, H. (eds.), The Chagos marine protected area arbitration (Mauritius v United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland): award of 18 March 2015, The Hague, Permanent Court of Arbitration, 2017. [e-book]
- MacMahon, B. and Smith, F.C. (eds.), Permanent Court of Arbitration: Summaries of Awards 1999-2009, The Hague, T.M.C. Asser Press, 2010.
- Permanent Court of Arbitration Award Series
- Reports of international arbitral awards = Recueil des sentences arbitrales, Nations Unies, New York, United Nations, 1948-.
Soft law
- IBA Rules for Investor-State Mediation [October 4, 2012]
- Permanent Court of Arbitration Optional Conciliation Rules [July, 1, 1996]
- Permanent Court of Arbitration Optional Rules for Conciliation of Disputes Relating to Natural Resources and the Environment [April 16, 2002]
- Permanent Court of Arbitration Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Outer Space Activities [December 6, 2011]
- The Hague Rules for Business and Human Rights Arbitration [December, 2019]
Reference works
- Daly, B.W. (et al.), A Guide to the PCA Arbitration Rules, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014. [e-book]
- Indlekofer, M., International Arbitration and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Alphen aan den Rijn, Kluwer Law International, 2013. [e-book]
- Kalicki, J. and Raouf, M.A. (eds.), with the assistance of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Evolution and Adaptation: the Future of International Arbitration, (ICCA congress series no. 20.), Alphen aan den Rijn, Kluwer Law International, 2020. [e-book]
- Marsman, A., International Arbitration in the Netherlands, with a Commentary on the NAI and PCA Arbitration Rules, Alphen aan den Rijn, Kluwer Law International, 2021. [e-book]
Selected books and articles
- Banerjee, R., “The Kishanganga Dispute and the Partial Award Rendered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration : What it Means for India?”, GNLU Journal of Law, Development and Politics, 5 (2015), No. 1, pp. 51-63.
- Becker, M.A., and C. Rose, “Investigating the Value of Site Visits in Inter-State Arbitration and Adjudication”, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, 8 (2017), No. 2, pp. 219-249.
- Daly, B.W., "Balancing Private Rights and Public Order in Investor-State Arbitration: the PCA Experience", The American review of international arbitration, 30 (2019), No. 1, pp. 35-65.
- Dupeyre, R., “The Paris Arbitration Rules: A New Kind of Ad Hoc Arbitration Rules for Sophisticated Users of International Arbitration”, Revista Brasileira de Arbitragem, 11 (2014), No. 44, pp. 84-99.
- Eynard, M, La Cour permanente d'arbitrage: vers une reconquête de sa place originelle?, Paris, Connaissances et Savoirs, 2016.
- Falls, S., "Outsourcing FTA Dispute Settlement Administration to Third-Party International Arbitral Institutions: Opportunities and the Role of the Permanent Court of Arbitration", Law & Practice of International Courts & Tribunals, 19 (2020), No. 1, pp. 49-78.
- Frohloff, J., "Per arbitrum ad astra", Journal of international arbitration, 37 (2020), No. 6, pp. 721-729.
- Galagan, D., “Preferential Treatment of Claims of Blockading Powers against Venezuela”, Transnational Dispute Settlement, 13 (2016), No. 3.
- Grimmer, S., “The Determination of Arbitrator Challenges by the Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration”, in C. Giorgetti (ed.), Challenges and Recusals of Judges and Arbitrators in International Courts and Tribunals, Leiden, Brill Nijhoff, 2015, pp. 80-114.
- Hout, T.T. van den, "Resolution of International Disputes: the Role of the Permanent Court of Arbitration- Reflections on the Centenary of the 1907 Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes", Leiden Journal of International Law, 21 (2008), No. 3, pp. 643-661.
- Jorritsma, R., “National Groups (Permanent Court of Arbitration)”, Max Planck Institute Luxembourg Working Paper Series, No. 8, 2017.
- Kurlekar, A., “Space - The Final Frontier: Analysing Challenges of Dispute Resolution Relating to Outer Space”, Journal of International Arbitration, 33 (2016), No. 4, pp. 379-416.
- Li, Yanying, and C.M. Ng, “More in 2013 than Ever Before: Inter-State and Investor-State Arbitrations at the Permanent Court of Arbitration”, Hague Yearbook of International Law, 26 (2013), pp. 496-515, 2014.
- Mamolea, A., “Saving Face : the Political Work of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (1902-1914)”, in Rasilla, I. de la, and J.E. Viñuales (eds.), Experiments in International Adjudication: Historical Accounts, Cambridge, Cambidge University Press, 2019, pp 193-210.
- Meshel, T., “The Croatia v. Slovenia Arbitration: The Silver Lining”, Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals, 16 (2017), No. 2, pp. 288-306.
- Paor, R. de, “Climate Change and Arbitration: Annex Time before there won’t be A Next Time”, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, 8 (2017), No. 1, pp. 179-215.
- Pislevik, S., "Law Without Gravity: Arbitrating Space Disputes at the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the Relevance of Adverse Inferences", Journal of Space Law, 43 (2019), No. 2, pp. 280-308.
- Ratliff, D.P., “The PCA Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Natural Resources and/or the Environment”, Leiden Journal of International Law, 14 (2001), No. 4, pp. 887-896. [e-article]
- Vlaar, S.N., “The PCA, The Hague Courts and the Yukos Case”, in S. van Hoogstraten (ed.), New Challenges to International Law : A View from The Hague, Leiden, Brill Nijhoff, 2018, pp. 80-99. [e-article]
- Wehberg, H, The Problem of an International Court of Justice (transl. by C.G. Fenwick), Oxford, Clarendon, 1918 (2nd printing, Clark, NJ, The Lawbook Exchange, 2010).
Periodicals, serial publications
Bibliographies
- Global Arbitration Review : The database includes access to: news reports on recent disputes; all articles of the journal; an online Q&A resource, called GAR Know-How, which provides practitioners with a reference guide to particular dispute types, i.e., commercial arbitration, construction arbitration, investment treaty arbitration, litigation, and maritime & offshore arbitration: annual regional arbitration reviews: and, four guides, The Guide to Damages in International Arbitration, The Guide to Advocacy, The Guide to Energy Arbitrations, and The Guide to Construction Arbitration (Forthcoming).