LEGAL STATUS AND ORGANIZATION OF ACTIVITIES OF THE MARITIME ARBITRATION INSTITUTIONS (THE CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN)

Introduction. Consideration of cases in international commercial arbitration courts is a special form of influence on public relations having a private and legal nature. Despite the uncertainty of the post-Brexit situation, Great Britain remains one of the most popular countries for international arbitration. British international commercial arbitration courts have excellent reputation, and the United Kingdom controls the enforcement of foreign arbitration awards at the state level. Therefore, the English maritime arbitration, which became quite widespread at the end of the 19th century, has not lost its popularity in the business environment to this day. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to determine the legal status and regulatory principles of the organization of maritime arbitration institutions in Great Britain on the basis of the experience in building the system of international commercial arbitrations in this state and their functioning, as well as for the possible adoption of such experience by the Maritime Arbitration Commission at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Materials and methods. The materials of this study are as follows: 1) regulatory and legal support for the activities of maritime arbitration institutions operating in the territory of Great Britain; 2) works of foreign researchers whose scientific and practical studies are devoted to the determination of competence and special features of functioning of both commercial arbitrations in general and maritime arbitration institutions in Great Britain in particular. While carrying out the research, the author used the following methods of legal science: historical (to reveal peculiarities of the evolutionary formation of maritime arbitration institutions in Great Britain and the specific features of construction of the state's legislation in the relevant field); system and structural (to establish an algorithm for determining arbitrators, considering cases and resolving disputes by the maritime arbitration institutions in Great Britain); comparative and legal (to determine analogies between the London Maritime Arbitrators Association, Lloyd's Salvage Arbitration Branch and the MAC at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry); logical (to formulate conclusions and prospects for further research on the relevant issue). Results. The key bodies in Great Britain that currently have jurisdiction over international maritime disputes are the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA) and the Lloyd's Salvage Arbitration Branch being one of the divisions of Lloyd's, the world's leading insurance market. The UK Arbitration Act 1996 regulates the procedure for arbitration if its place was decided by the parties to be in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. The English arbitration accepts cases only if the differences between the parties have become sufficiently serious and the parties do not intend to resort to a conciliation procedure to avoid a dispute. The subject competence of the English maritime arbitration is established by the arbitration agreement signed by the parties. The subject of the contract, obligations of the parties, issues of liability, etc. form competence of the arbitration. The English law envisages that the arbitration must be conducted by a single arbitrator, unless the parties have agreed to a different number of arbitrators. In Great Britain, the peculiarity of the arbitration of cases related to merchant shipping is that the signing of the arbitration agreement does not mean complete removal of the High Court of Justice from the control over the arbitrators' activities. On the contrary, the controllability of the arbitration institutions of the Court is one of the characteristic features of the English arbitration procedure, since the legislation of Great Britain gives the High Court of Justice supervisory powers over the activities of international commercial arbitrations.