Arbitration in the 37th America's Cup

The America's Cup is one of the most important sporting competitions in the world. It is also the oldest sporting competition in existence, now more than 170 years old. Like all sporting events, it raises a series of issues and sometimes triggers litigation cases which often have to be dealt with as a matter of urgency. Recognizing this, and the need to deal professionally with these cases, an arbitration panel has become an established part of the Cup's organization. This solution has been once more adopted with regard to the 37th edition of the America's Cup which took place between 2021 and 2024. The issues which arose on such occasion might arise again during other America's Cup editions, and some of them can be of interest beyond the sport of sailing. What happens in the America's Cup can in fact be of general interest to lawyers, arbitrators, and scholars, belonging to both the sport and arbitration communities.

This book is the sixth of a series that over time constitutes a unique corpus compiling the applicable rules and decisions rendered in the context of the America's Cup over the last twenty-five years. It indeed contains all the decisions issued by the Arbitration Panel and by the Jury in place during the 37th America's Cup, as well as all supporting documents. More specifically, the following are included in this book:

• the Deed of Gift;

  
  



• the Protocol of the 37th America's Cup and the amendments made thereto;

  
  



• the America's Cup Arbitration Panel Rules of Procedure (May 2023);

  
  



• other documents governing the 37th America's Cup edition: the World Sailing Racing Rules of Sailing - America's Cup Edition, the AC75 Class Rule, the AC40 Class Rule, the AC Technical Regulations, the "Louis Vuitton Cup Conditions," the Match Conditions, the Sailing Instructions for the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series and the Sailing Instructions for the 37th America's Cup Match;

  
  



• the documents governing the Youth and Women's America's Cup: the Youth and Women's America's Cup Agreement for the 2024 Youth America's Cup and the Women's America's Cup as well as the Sailing Instructions for the Youth and Women's America's Cup;

  
  



• all 37th America's Cup Arbitration Panel Decisions; and

  
  



• all 37th America's Cup Jury Decisions.

  
  

Besides compiling these documents, the authors have deemed it useful to start the book with an introduction in which, after briefly providing some historical background, they explain and comment on what they consider are the most important and peculiar issues pertaining to the 37th America's Cup and what can be learnt for future editions of the Cup.

In addition to the above, this book includes a copy of the handwritten version of the original Deed of Gift dated 8 July 1857, the primary and cornerstone document governing the America's Cup, as well as what can be considered as the current text of the Deed of Gift. This transcription of the current Deed of Gift is accompanied by a useful explanation written by R. Steven Tsuchiya with the assistance of Dr. Hamish Ross, both well-known America's Cup experts.