All the arbitrators must concur in the award, unless it is otherwise provided by statute or by the submission; and when it is provided that, in case of their disagreement, the decision of the umpire shall be final, the award should in case of such a reference to the umpire proceed from him and be signed by him. The award must dispose of all the questions contained in the submission, and must conform to its terms in all respects. If it includes matters not covered by the submission, it will be good for so much as is authorized by it, if that part can be separated from the rest; but if it departs essentially and incurably from the submission, it is fatally bad. The award must be certain in its terms; that is, it must inform each party precisely what he is to do. It must also be final and conclusive in all respects. - The statutes of the several states usually define the grounds . on which awards may be set aside. In New York they may be vacated, on application to the court, for corruption or fraud or partiality on the part of the arbitrators; or if they were guilty of misconduct in refusing postponements, or in rejecting proper evidence, or exceeded their powers or imperfectly executed them in material points.

And in the same state awards may be corrected for evident mistakes or for other imperfections. Very similar statutory provisions exist in Illinois, Missouri, and other states. In several of the states it is also provided that an award may he vacated by the courts for any legal defects appearing: on its face. - The chief vice or weakness in the proceeding by arbitration is the power which either party has to revoke the authority given by him to the arbitrators. The only practical penalty for such a breach of the agreement, and even when there are bonds fixing precise sums by way of liquidated damages, is that the party who revokes must pay the expenses incurred by the other up to the revocation. In some of the states, as in Massachusetts and Maine, the statutes provide that neither party shall revoke the submission without the consent of the other. Bat in other states, as in New York and Missouri, the only restraint is, that no revocation shall be made after the cause is finally submitted to the arbitrators upon the evidence.

The death of a party pending the proceedings operates as a revocation, unless it be expressly provided otherwise by the submission, or, as is the case in some of the states, by statute. - A submission suspends, and an award bars, the right of suit on the original cause of action. The award must be made within the time directed by the agreement, and it is a nullity if made after that time, unless the parties consent to an extension of the time. The power of the arbitrators is exhausted by delivery of the award, and though in making it they have exceeded their powers or otherwise erred, they cannot recall it or make another one. The courts have repeatedly held that when not limited by the terms of the submission, the decisions of the arbitrators upon law and fact alike, provided that they act within the scope of their authority, are conclusive. If the award is within the submission, and contains an honest and fair decision, a court of equity will not set it aside for error either in law or in fact. Judge Story and other high judicial authorities have further declared that arbitrators are not bound to award upon the mere dry principles of law applicable to the case before them, but may make their award upon principles of equity and good conscience.

On the other hand, if the submission expressly provides that the case shall be decided according to the law, and the arbitrators make a mistake in that respect, this will subject the finding to revision by a court. In Pennsylvania, under a statute enacted in 1836, either party to a civil action may compel a submission of it to arbitrators by filing a rule in the prothono-tary's office calling for such a reference, and by serving a copy of the rule on his opponent. The number of the arbitrators, three or five or one, is fixed by the parties, or, if they cannot agree, by the prothonotary. The parties then by alternate nominations select the arbitrators; but if they cannot agree upon these, the prothonotary makes up a list containing five names for each of the number of the arbitrators, from which the parties alternately select the requisite number. - In England a statute of 1867 provides for councils of conciliation and arbitration, which may be formed by masters and their workmen. These councils exercise powers granted by former statutes of similar tenor (1 Victoria, ch. 67, and 8 and 9 Victoria, ch. 77, 128), and by the present statute are authorized to hear and determine all questions of dispute and difference between the workmen and their masters; and their awards are final and not subject to review or challenge in any court.

No attorneys, solicitors, or counsel are allowed to attend any hearing before the councils, without the consent of both sides. The courts of prudhommes are courts of a similar sort in France. They are established in Paris and Lyons and some of the other large cities, and take cognizance of disputes between master manufacturers and their workmen, and between workmen and their apprentices. The court is composed of master workmen or manufacturers and of foremen, six of each, one half of the number going out each year. The court acts first as a court of conciliation; and if it fails to bring the parties to an agreement, it has jurisdiction to the amount of 200 francs without appeal, and to any higher amount subject to appeals to a tribunal of commerce. It is said that almost all the cases brought before these courts are settled by conciliation.