INTRODUCTION

The Place of Annulment in the Convention

In the Convention's drafting history, a provision on annulment of awards was first included in the Preliminary Draft (History, Vol. I, p. 230). It was closely modelled on Art. 35 of the ILC's 1958 Model Rules on Arbitral Procedure. That provision, in turn, was the result of abortive plans to create a permanent review procedure for international arbitral awards to be administered by the PCIJ and later the ICJ. The idea to create an international review procedure was never seriously challenged during the Convention's drafting (but see para. 4 infra). The drafts leading to what eventually became Art. 52 show no dramatic changes (History, Vol. I, pp. 230–241). The debates on these drafts concerned mainly the precise formulation of the grounds for annulment (see paras. 105, 106, 118, 119, 131, 193–195, 272, 279, 340, 399, 400 infra), the time limits for the submission of applications (see para. 435 infra), the appointment of members of ad hoc committees (see paras. 451, 461, 462 infra), partial annulment (see para. 494 infra) and stay of enforcement pending annulment proceedings (see paras. 574–576 infra).