Title 9 — ArbitrationRelease 119-73not60
§7 Witnesses Before Arbitrators; Fees; Compelling Attendance
Title 9 › Chapter 1— GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 7
Summary
Arbitrators can order someone in writing to come and testify and to bring books, records, or papers that matter in the case. They must pay the same witness fees used in U.S. courts. The order is issued in the arbitrators’ names, signed, and served like a federal subpoena. If a person refuses, the U.S. district court where the arbitrators sit can force them to attend or punish them for contempt under the same rules as federal courts.
Full Legal Text
Title 9, §7
Arbitration — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The arbitrators selected either as prescribed in this title or otherwise, or a majority of them, may summon in writing any person to attend before them or any of them as a witness and in a proper case to bring with him or them any book, record, document, or paper which may be deemed material as evidence in the case. The fees for such attendance shall be the same as the fees of witnesses before masters of the United States courts. Said summons shall issue in the name of the arbitrator or arbitrators, or a majority of them, and shall be signed by the arbitrators, or a majority of them, and shall be directed to the said person and shall be served in the same manner as subpoenas to appear and testify before the court; if any person or persons so summoned to testify shall refuse or neglect to obey said summons, upon petition the United States district court for the district in which such arbitrators, or a majority of them, are sitting may compel the attendance of such person or persons before said arbitrator or arbitrators, or punish said person or persons for contempt in the same manner provided by law for securing the attendance of witnesses or their punishment for neglect or refusal to attend in the courts of the United States.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
DerivationAct Feb. 12, 1925, ch. 213, § 7, 43 Stat. 884.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1951—Act Oct. 31, 1951, substituted “United States district court for” for “United States court in and for”, and “by law for” for “on February 12, 1925, for”.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
9 U.S.C. § 7
Title 9 — Arbitration
Last Updated
Apr 3, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60