Abstracts

3 Judge and Arbitrator in International Legal Procedures：Implications for the Arbitral Tribunal of the South China Sea Dispute between China and the Philippines WU Hui, SHANG Tao [Abstract] The international legal procedures comprise judicial procedures and arbitration procedures, in which the personal factors of judges and arbitrators may have certain influences on these legal activities. The judges in the international judicial procedures shall have independence, swearing to be faithful to the court or tribunal. However, such independence is relative since the political factors during election, as well as the nationality, personal thoughts and ideas of a judge in service, will affect his or her handling of the cases. Meanwhile, the independence of the arbitrators in international arbitration procedures is insufficient compared with the judges in international judicial organizations such as International Court of Justice and International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The arbitrator appointed by each party usually stands for and defends the benefit of this party. In the international legal procedures, judges and arbitrators can play a certain role in determining the procedure, calling witnesses or experts and receiving their evidence and visiting the localities to which the case relates, and attaching a separate or dissenting opinion to the award. Therefore, it is important for us to have a full understanding of the personal effects of the judges and arbitrators in international legal procedures in order to deal with the present arbitration cases China has participated in and the potential cases in future; it can also help supervise and avoid adverse personal factors when China does not participate in the arbitration proceedings or gives up appointing an arbitrator. [Key Words] United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, international legal procedures, judge, arbitrator [Authors] WU Hui, Professor, Supervisor of Doctoral Candidates, Vice-president at University of International Relations; SHANG Tao, PhD Candidate at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.