Unveiling of Dictionary of National and International Arbitration Terms at the UIC

Present
at the unveiling were: María Fernández
Arrojo,
the Vice Dean and a professor in the UIC Faculty of Legal and Political
Sciences; Jesús de Alfonso, the
president of the Arbitration Tribunal of Barcelona (TAB); Mario Castillo
Freyre, a professor at the Pontificia
Universidad Católica del Perú; and Ramón Mullerat, the former president of the Council
of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, in representation of the dictionary's
authors.
Javier Junceda, the Dean of the Faculty of Legal and
Political Sciences at the UIC, is listed as one of the book's co-authors, the
majority of whom are Spanish and Peruvian legal experts, lawyers, university
professors and lawyers from prestigious Geneva-based companies that specialize
in arbitration.
Jesús de Alfonso described the
dictionary and its structure, which consists of a foreword, acknowledgements, a
note from the editors, the arbitration terms with explanations, a brief
description of the authors’ backgrounds and a series of tables containing
translations and interpretations of the terms from Spanish to English and
French, English to Spanish and French to Spanish.
After
the presentation, Jesús de Alfonso
highlighted the collective effort made by nearly 100 authors that has been brought
together in the dictionary's 1148 pages. He also praised the foreword, which
was written by Manuel Olivencia,
Professor Emeritus of Commercial Law at the Universidad de Sevilla. De Alfonso said, "Reading the
foreword gives you a taste of what to expect from the dictionary".
Still
on the subject of the foreword, Ramón Mullerat said
he considered it to be "a work of art" and also praised the inclusion
of tables containing translations and interpretations of the terminology,
"because the dictionary has been designed so that it is not simply a case
of reading the literal translation of an arbitration term from one language to
another, but of having a much wider vision of each term. Literal translations
are often inaccurate because of the inevitable nuances in comparative law and
differences in the culture of each legal system".
Mario Castillo Freyre, whose law firm
funded the publication of the dictionary and included it in its Arbitration
Library series, pointed out that "the aim of this series is to disseminate
arbitral culture, doctrine and jurisprudence in Peru through a number of
different volumes; this objective is being helped greatly by contributions from
Spanish legal experts in the volumes of the series".
He
also commented on the expansion of arbitration in his country and said,
"When the administration of justice breaks down, civil society seeks
solutions and in these circumstances arbitration comes to the fore. It is the
ideal way to resolve conflicts out of court". Referring to Peruvian
legislation, Castillo Freyre went
on to say, "In Peru, even conflicts that arise from public contracts are
subject to arbitration".
Jorge Luis Collantes González acknowledged that
the idea for the dictionary was born out of necessity when he was looking for a
glossary of arbitration terms and wasn't able to find one.