dispute resolution procedures in contract construction: from iran’s legal and imamiyeh fiqh perspectives

dispute resolution procedures in contract construction: from iran’s legal and imamiyeh fiqh perspectives solmaz hadi [1] morteza haji pour [2] abstract in iranian civil law, in spite of the long tradition of using alternative dispute resolution (adr) methods, and existence of rules and regulation regarding conciliation and compromise, the use of adr methods were not welcomed by the conflicting parties. referral of disputes to adr processes sometimes has been acted out in the form of independent agreements, and of other times as a side condition of a main contract. the conditions for referral to those methods could be either voluntary or mandatory. the effects of the agreements concerning referral conditions to adr can not negate the jurisdiction of the courts. the acceptance of the principle of independence of referral condition has not been met with public acceptance. regarding the laws governing conflicts and the kind of dispute, most of the times the tendency is towards ruling of the wills. but accepting this idea in iranian law sometimes seems in conflict with our principles of justice. the decision of the third party is not binding and the agreement of the parties on binding decision only has given it the contractual responsibility, the methods for alternative dispute resolution or ( adr )  are the processes which have replaced the formal litigation, and its goals is an expedient resolution of conflicts by third party neutral private persons. these techniques with the variety they offer are all based on the agreements of the parties, and subsequently the results of the processes are not binding.  mediation, conciliation, and negotiation are among the most  important of these techniques. low cost, speed, and confidentiality, flex ability, effectiveness and remedial variability  and productiveness, non-adversarial nature, simplicity and informality, case analysis by experts, etc. are the main advantages of the adr methods. also  the non-binding decisions resulting from adr processes, and not being able to refer to some types of conflicts to adr methods, would be some of the disadvantages of using adr. the contract works, the need for rapid implemenation of the project and its position on the one hand a considerable amount of manpower, maretial, technical and financial used in the project, requiring that  arising from the contract works as quickly and place project, to be resolved.   key word: dispute resolution, litigation, negotiation, conciliation [1] . an m.a. private law candidate at islamic azad university, tasuj branch, iran. e-mail address: [email protected] [2] . assistant professor of private law department at azarbaijan shahid madani university, iran