ARBITRATORS’ IMPARTIALITY AND ENGLISH LAW: IS IT TIME FOR A CHANGE?

The English Court employs the fair-minded observer to assess whether there was a real possibility that the arbitrator was biased. The Supreme Court in Magill v. Porter claimed that by adopting the fair-minded observer the English test will conform with Article 6 of the ECHR. This Article shows that the fair-minded may in fact struggle to conform to Article 6, and advocates that the reasonable person construct is a better construct to achieve this objective. We show that as a matter of principle and practice there is no reason for England to adopt a test which diverges with international practice.