||This article may contain original research. (January 2013)|
|Part of the common law series| |Defenses against formation|
|Excuses for non-performance| |Rights of third parties| |Breach
of contract| |Related areas of law| |Other common law areas| An
arbitration clause is a commonly used clause in a contract that
requires the parties to resolve their disputes through an
arbitration process. Although such a clause may or may not
specify that arbitration occur within a specific jurisdiction,
it always binds the parties to a type of resolution outside of
the courts, and is therefore considered a kind of forum
selection clause. In the United States, the federal government
has expressed a policy of support of arbitration clauses,
because they reduce the burden on court systems to resolve
disputes. This support is found in the Federal Arbitration Act,
which permits compulsory and binding arbitration, under which
parties give up the right to appeal an arbitrator's decision to
a court. In Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood &