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Opinion - Editorial
As I sit writing this, the end of the school term is looming and many will be looking forward to their summer holiday. I wish you all a good time. Alternatively, by the time you read this, the new term will have begun and the summer holiday will be drifting into memory as the days become shorter and we start preparing for Christmas. One's entire outlook on life can change dramatically within a very short period. It is the same in our profession. One minute you are considering and deciding a matter of jurisdiction, which appears to be absolutely clear cut but then, in a whisker of time, your decision is being scrutinised by the court and you are found to be completely wrong. Be heartened. In this issue you will find a case in which the Court of Appeal got it wrong and, apparently, had forgotten the changes in law brought about by the 1996 Arbitration Act!
We still need input to News & Views from members who have not yet contributed. By looking through most issues, you can see that we are not expecting 'highbrow' articles and will be happy with anything from a short discourse on an interesting or amusing incident or thought to an academic treatise.
You will see in this issue the exciting programme which your committee has devised for the next session, including the Annual Dinner, to be held at Chatham Dockyard - birthplace of the '?Victory', which gives the opportunity to remember when, 200 years ago, we could overcome at least two of our EU partners alone. We are holding a meeting on 30 November, jointly with the ICE. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE note the different venue. Always remember that you can influence the programme. Contact any member of the committee if you would like to see any particular topic covered. We can'?t promise to suit everyone but we need ideas from outside the committee.
This year has been momentous in the construction industry (apologies to the vast number of non-construction members) with both JCT and NEC appearing in a new, colour coded format. There will be meetings galore about these changes and we hope that our programme reflects the importance of these changes while still giving enough for members with no interest in construction. We can all learn from other disciplines, I learnt a lot from the talk on 'Sports Arbitration' although I am never likely to enter that field. Notwithstanding the letter from Francis Miller, I believe that arbitration could be used in a very much wider field - there is no commercial dispute for which arbitration cannot be adapted (barring, perhaps, defamation).
Peter Cousins