In the case of any
doubtful point of law, the arbitrators are jointly to agree upon a case,
and consult counsel. It is recommended to arbitrators to propose to the
parties, that they should give an acknowledgment in writing, before the
award is made; that they have been candidly and fully heard.
In the same manner as a Quaker proceeds with a Quaker in the case of any
difference, he is led by his education and habits to proceed with
others, who are not members of the same society. A Quaker seldom goes to
law with a person of another denomination, till he has proposed
arbitration. If the proposal be not accepted, the Quaker has then no
remedy but the law. For a person, who is out of the society, cannot be
obliged upon pain of disownment, as a Quaker may, to submit to such a
mode of decision, being out of the reach of the Quaker-discipline.
I shall close my observations upon this subject, by giving an account of
an institution for the accommodation of differences, which took place in
the year 1793, upon Quaker principles.
In the town of Newcastle upon Tyne, a number of disputes were
continually arising on the subject of shipping concerns, which were
referred to the decision of the laws. These decisions were often
grievously expensive. They were, besides, frequently different from what
seafaring persons conceived to be just.
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