148 Pa. 372 | Pa. | 1892
Opinion by
This case was tried in the court below on the theory that, although the award was not authorized by the submission, it could be enforced, if Keith’s refusal to join in it was attribu
We think it is clear that a submission which requires that the arbitrators shall make an award under their hands and seals, is not satisfied by proof that they agreed upon an award which was reduced to writing, and they refused to sign. If the signature of one arbitrator, whose concurrence in the award is necessary to. its validity, can be dispensed with on such ground, the signatures of all can be, and we may have a parol award substituted for the written one demanded by the stipulations of the parties. It needs no argument or citation of authority to prove that a principle which admits of such results is unsound. The real question for our consideration in this case is, whether, under the submission, an award by two arbitrators is valid. The powers of the arbitrators are derived from the submission, and measured by it. If, in express terms, or by fair implication, it allows a majority to make the award, they may do so, but otherwise all must unite in making it. This is the rule of the text books, and of our own cases.
It is thus stated in Morse on Arbitration and Award, p. 162: “ Unless the statute or the submission, under which the arbitrators act and derive their authority, provides to a contrary effect, or unless a contrary intention of the parties can be clearly and unmistakably gathered from the submission and attendant facts, the rule is general and imperative that all the arbitrators must unite in the award in order to render it valid. A different rule is allowed to prevail in matters of public concern.” It is recognized and enforced in all the Pennsylvania cases to which it is applicable. In Tetter v. Rapesnyder, 1 Dallas, 293, there was a submission to three persons, and an award by two of them. The award was set aside on the ground that it was not authorized by the submission. In Bayne v. Gaylord, 3 Watts, 301, the submission was to two persons named, “ together with such third person as the two should selectthe two so named,
Judgment reversed.