English Arbitration Act 1996 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

English Arbitration Act 1996 - Essay Example This Act was formed for improvements accumulating from the former arbitration acts and case law following the structure and language of the Model Law without completely adopting it. The 1996 Act is characterized by many features, the most important being confirming the Principle Part Autonomy. Although it includes a number of mandatory provisions, the Act leaves a large number of issues up to the freedom of parties. Moreover, it limits the intervention of courts during the arbitral process except for assisting in its efficiency. Even after rendering the arbitral award, it limits the right of parties to appeal, balancing between the significance of the courts' interference to assist in achieving justice when the arbitral tribunal conducts wrongly and issues an unjust award and the fact that the arbitral award shall be final and binding and that the intervention of courts shall be limited. In addition, it is inclusive as it deals with most aspects of the arbitral process in details leaving some aspects up to the discretionary power of the court. In this chapter, the significant aspects of the arbitral process are addressed in the light of 1996 Act. ... proceedings,9 the national court's power in supporting the arbitral process,10securing the attendance of witnesses,11 and enforcing arbitration awards.12 3. Arbitration Agreement The English Arbitration Act provides a simple and at the same time broad definition for the arbitration agreement by defining it as "an agreement to submit to arbitration present or future disputes (whether they are contractual or not)."13 With this broad definition, the English Act recognizes both types of the arbitration agreement; arbitration clause and submission agreement. Moreover, based on Section 6, the reference within an agreement between parties to a written arbitration clause or a document that includes an arbitration clause is considered an arbitration agreement between those parties "if the reference is such as to make that clause part of the agreement."14 However, although the English Act does not stipulate the explicitly of this reference, the approach of the English case law confirms the nec essity of such reference to be in unambiguous and clear words.15 3.1 The Formal condition for the arbitration agreement Under the 1996 Act, the only formal condition for the arbitration agreement to be submitted to the provisions of this Act is the condition of being written.16 This Act gives a broad interpretation as for the existence of this condition. It deems that the arbitration agreement is in writing if it is made via exchanging written communications,17 or if it is written but not signed whether by one or all parties.18 Similarly, when this agreement "is evidenced in writing"19 or there has been an oral agreement to arbitration between parties by referring to written terms.20 In addition, the 1996 Act is sufficient with the existence of this requirement whenever the arbitration

Prions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Prions - Essay Example Clinical signs among others include personality changes, psychiatric problems, lack of coordination, steady gait, involuntary jerking movements, unusual sensations, insomnia, confusion and severe mental impairment in the later stages. Those known to infect other vertebrate animals include scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cows, chronic wasting disease in American elk and deer, transmissible mink encephalopathy in mink and feline spongiform encephalopathy in cats (Jeffrey, Goodbrand & Goodsir 1995). One of the primary risk factors identified in relation to prion diseases is age. Studies suggest that a general mechanism might produce the remarkable reduction in disease risk as age increases. For example, in a study of scrapie outbreaks, it is observed that incidence of clinical cases peaked in sheep with age ranging from 2 to 3 years. The same age range has been noted in cattle with mad cow and deer with chronic wasting disease (Heisey 2004). In terms of its prevalence in the human population, it is estimated that 1 in 10,000 people are infected with CJD at the time of death. The actual prevalence of prion diseases are very difficult to ascertain due to overlapping symptoms that may lead to misdiagnosis. (Heaphy 2003) Research pertaining Research pertaining to prion diseases is deemed limited by the fact that studying them is substantially hampered by the unconventional properties of the presumed etiologic agent. Moreover, the long incubation period ranging from 34 to 41 years ("Mad cow could be dormant in people" 2006) of the diseases make them more difficult to detect. Moreover, the standard laboratory methods utilized for studying viruses and bacteria may not be applicable in this case (Belay & Telling). However, following reports of the outbreak of BSE, commonly termed as "mad cow" disease, in many European countries coupled with the estimated economic and medical implications of the said epidemic, the scope and nature of research on prion diseases has developed rapidly. This paper focuses on the current advancements in the study of prion diseases specifically in terms of modes of transmission, diagnosis methods, possible treatment and prevention. Modes of Transmission The manner of transmission of prion diseases is of primary concern in view of the protein nature of the prions. Note that unlike other types of infectious diseases which are spread by microbes, prion diseases are caused by misshaped protein, dubbed as prion protein, which transmits the disease between individuals causing brain deterioration (Belkin 2003). Based on recent studies, prion diseases have been considered unique as these can be inherited, sporadically occur or spread through infection. Majority of the prion disease cases are said to occur spontaneously, hence, animals with no prion protein mutation were observed infected. (Collinge 2001) On the other hand, inherited prion disease occurs in animals carrying a rare mutant prion allele. The disease is transmitted when healthy animal consume tainted tissues of other infected animals. The "mad cow" epidemic has been attributed to this mode of transmission as practice of feeding the cattle with processed remains of other cattle, which may have been infected already, became common. (Weissmann 2004) In humans, as in the cases of CJD, the