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Special referee
 
 
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In law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
, a special referee acts as a judge
Judge

A judge, or arbiter of justice, is a lead official who presides over a court of law,which is operated by the local, state, and/or federal government....
 on matters of fact only.

any instances, the interpretation of the specific statute
Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a country, state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy....
s or case law
Case law

Case law is the general term for the principles and rules of law set forth in judge legal opinion from courts of law. Case law incorporates courts' decisions from individual legal case and encompasses courts' interpretations of statutes, constitution provisions, administrative law regulations and, in some cases, law originating solely f...
 relevant to a dispute is absolutely clear. The uncertainty between the parties
Party (law)

A 'party' is a person or group of persons that compose a single entity which can be identified as one for the purposes of the law.Courts use various terms to identify the role of a particular party in civil litigation, usually identifying the party that brings a lawsuit as the plaintiff, or, in older American cases, the party of the first p...
 lies in the facts. Hence, a special referee is an expert in the factual topic, whether it be shipping, civil engineering, accounting, etc. He or she hears evidence and makes factual findings which bind the parties.






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In law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
, a special referee acts as a judge
Judge

A judge, or arbiter of justice, is a lead official who presides over a court of law,which is operated by the local, state, and/or federal government....
 on matters of fact only.

Explanation

In many instances, the interpretation of the specific statute
Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a country, state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy....
s or case law
Case law

Case law is the general term for the principles and rules of law set forth in judge legal opinion from courts of law. Case law incorporates courts' decisions from individual legal case and encompasses courts' interpretations of statutes, constitution provisions, administrative law regulations and, in some cases, law originating solely f...
 relevant to a dispute is absolutely clear. The uncertainty between the parties
Party (law)

A 'party' is a person or group of persons that compose a single entity which can be identified as one for the purposes of the law.Courts use various terms to identify the role of a particular party in civil litigation, usually identifying the party that brings a lawsuit as the plaintiff, or, in older American cases, the party of the first p...
 lies in the facts. Hence, a special referee is an expert in the factual topic, whether it be shipping, civil engineering, accounting, etc. He or she hears evidence and makes factual findings which bind the parties. This will usually be sufficient for the parties to resolve the dispute since the law can now be applied. If the parties still cannot agree, they may initiate proceedings for arbitration
Arbitration

Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a law technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, wherein the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound....
 or litigation but, on an inter partes
Inter partes

The term inter partes is the Latin for "between the parties", and it is the opposite of in rem.Lawsuits where all interested party have been served with adequate notices and are given a reasonable opportunity to attend and to be heard are referred to as inter partes proceedings or hearings....
 basis, the facts are conclusively determined by the judgment
Judgment

A judgment , in a legal context, is synonymous with the formal decision made by a court following a lawsuit. At the same time the court may also make a range of court orders, such as imposing a sentence upon a Guilt y defendant in a Criminal law matter, or providing a Legal remedy for the plaintiff in a civil law matter....
 of the special referee and only questions of law may be argued before the new forum. Thus, the use of a special referee provides a relatively swift and cost-effective mechanism for dispute resolution
Dispute resolution

Dispute resolution is the process of resolving disputes between party ....
 if only because the procedure is less formal than in a court and the referee's existing expertise reduces the need to continually explain complex technical and factual matters to a judge who has only legal expertise.

Scope

The parties may anticipate the possibility of a dispute and nominate a special referee as the most appropriate form of dispute resolution (see forum selection clause
Forum selection clause

A forum selection clause in a contract with a Conflict of Laws element allows the parties to agree that any litigation resulting from that contract will be initiated in a specific forum....
). Such clauses cannot limit or deny the right of either party to refer the matter to a court (whether in the state
State (law)

The term State has several meanings in law:# in private international law and conflict of laws, State can refer to a well-defined jurisdiction, with its own set of laws and courts....
 nominated or, if the contract does not specify a state, in any court prepared to accept jurisdiction subject to the rules on forum shopping
Forum shopping

Forum shopping is the colloquialism given to the practice adopted by some litigants to get their legal case heard in the court thought most likely to provide a favorable judgment....
).

If there is no anticipatory provision in the contract, the parties may, of their own initiative, seek out a person qualified to act as a special referee and submit the factual case to him or her for resolution. Although costs will be involved in legal representation, fees to witnesses, and in the fee to the special referee, the expenditure will be a fraction of the costs of full-scale litigation.

If there is no agreement between the parties, the civil procedure
Civil procedure

Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudication Civil law lawsuits . These rules govern how a lawsuit or Legal case may be commenced, what kind of service of process is required, the types of pleadings or statements of case, motion s or applications, and court orders allowed in c...
 of many states allows the court to refer the matter to a special referee when this will both provide exertise on the facts, and enable the legal case to be disposed of in a more timely fashion. For example, in Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, the Arbitration Act provides:
14. (1) Subject to rules of court and to any right to have particular cases tried by a jury, the court or a judge may refer any question arising in any cause or matter, other than a criminal proceeding by the Crown, to an official or special referee for inquiry or report.
The report of an official or special referee may be adopted wholly or partially by the court or a judge, and if so adopted may be enforced as a judgment or order to the same effect.