‘The code of the court of arbitration for sport: Commentary, cases and materials’ by Despina Mavromati & Matthieu Reeb pages 708 +xlv hard back 2015 Wolters Kluwer Law & Business The Netherlands isbn 978-90-411-3873-6
This Book is a welcome addition to the Literature on Sports Law in general and on the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in particular, which has been operating now for 31 years and handles some 400 sports-related disputes each year.
The Book sets out the CAS Rules and explains them, in the light of the history of the CAS and its jurisdiction, and also includes sample forms and documents, including a new innovation for the CAS, a Legal Aid Application Form and the Legal Aid Guidelines, effective 1 September, 2013, on which it is based, as well as graphs and charts, all of which combine to make this Book a must-have resource for sports lawyers, sports governing bodies, most of whom designate the CAS as their final Court of Appeal, and all other stakeholders and interested parties in settling sports-related disputes quickly, effectively and inexpensively.
The authors are well-qualified to produce this Book, being respectively, the Head of Research and the Secretary General of the CAS, which gives their work a high degree of authority. In fact, in his Introduction, the President of the CAS and its governing body, ICAS (International Council of Arbitration for Sport), John Coates, describes the Book as being “unique”, a term not to be bandied about lightly, but with which your reviewer would entirely agree is justified!
In a Foreword to the Book, Prof Pierre Tercier, a former Chairman of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, describes it as a “comprehensive” treatment of its subject - high praise indeed from such an eminent authority on International Arbitration - and, once again, your reviewer would agree!
Usefully, the Book also includes a list of relevant decisions of the Swiss Federal Tribunal (TFS), before whom, in limited circumstances, CAS Awards may be legally challenged. This list includes the landmark decision of the TFS of 27 March, 2012 in the case of Matuzalem v FIFA, overruling the CAS Arbitral Award of June 29, 2011, as being contrary to Swiss Public Policy.
There is also a fairly comprehensive Bibliography of Books and Articles on the CAS, although your reviewer would mention, en passant, that his own Book on ‘Sport, Mediation and Arbitration’ is not included!
A List of Acronyms and Abbreviations, together with a workmanlike Index, complete this admirable and impressive Book.
Notwithstanding the Claudia Pechstein case pending in Germany, the CAS will, no doubt, as it has done in the past (for example, in the Elmar Gundel case), adapt to challenges to its independence and integrity, and continue to be what its founders intended it to be, namely, ‘The Supreme Court of World Sport’, building on and developing its own jurisprudence, often referred to as a ‘Lex Sportiva’.
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw, International Sports Lawyer, Academic and Author
