Party Autonomy in Mediation Proceedings

The objective of this work is to analyze mediation as an alternative dispute resolution method with much emphasis on the autonomy of the parties. Notwithstanding the fact that the traditional way of dispute settlement has been in the court of law, mediation and other out of court settlement methods have gained widespread acceptance among both the public and the legal profession in recent years. This method of dispute resolution is mostly used by disagreeing parties who cannot come to an agreement short of litigation, Hence a third party is called upon to resolve the issue between them. The objective of this paper is to examine the existence of party autonomy at the different stages of the mediation process. The Methodology employed in this work is mainly analytical in nature. This methodology permits us to analyze various literature related to the field of study. Our findings reveal that, despite court settlement being the primary method of dispute resolution, the workload in courts have provided a fertile ground for the growth of mediation as an alternative dispute resolution method which provides autonomy to the litigants.