The Reasoned Award

Abstract This chapter deals with the reasoned award in international investment arbitration, the duty to provide a reasoned award, the scope of that duty, the advantages and disadvantages of reasoned awards, and possible solutions to problems arising from (an overinterpretation of) the duty to give reasons. The chapter argues that tribunals and lawyers alike should dare more to pick winning arguments in their reasoning and should focus on the specific facts and law of the case before them. The chapter concludes that an award in investment arbitration always has to be a reasoned award but that a reasoned award only develops its full strength and right of existence when it keeps the purpose and the addressees of a decision at its centre, is drafted with a healthy dose of restraint, succinctness, and common sense, and does not lose sight of the importance of judicial economy.