Today, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) has gained international
recognition and is widely used to complement the conventional methods of
resolving disputes through courts of law. ADR simply entails all modes
of dispute settlement/resolution other than the traditional approaches
of dispute settlement through courts of law. Mainly, these modes are:
negotiation, mediation, [re]conciliation, and arbitration. The modern
ADR movement began in the United States as a result of two main concerns
for reforming the American justice system: the need for better-quality
processes and outcomes in the judicial system; and the need for
efficiency of justice. ADR was transplanted into the African legal
systems in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of the liberalization of the
African economies, which was accompanied by such conditionalities as
reform of the justice and legal sectors, under the Structural Adjustment
Programmes. However, most of the methods of ADR that are promoted for
inclusion in African justice systems are similar to pre-colonial African
dispute settlement mechanisms that encouraged restoration of harmony and
social bonds in the justice system. In Tanzania ADR was introduced in
1994 through Government Notice No. 422, which amended the First Schedule
to the Civil Procedure Code Act (1966), and it is now an inherent
component of the country's legal system. In recognition of its
importance in civil litigation in Tanzania, ADR has been made a
compulsory subject in higher learning/training institutions for lawyers.
This handbook provides theories, principles, examples of practice, and
materials relating to ADR in Tanzania and is therefore an essential
resource for practicing lawyers as well as law students with an interest
in Tanzania. It also contains additional information on evolving
standards in international commercial arbitration, which are very useful
to legal practitioners and law students.
