1. Short title, extent and commencement:- (1) This act may be called the Arbitration act,
1940.
(2) It extends to the whole of India #
[except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.]
(3) It shall come into force on the 1st day of July, 1940.
# Substituted By Act 3 of 1951, Section 3 and Schedule, for "except Part B States".
2. Definitions:- In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-
(a) "arbitration agreement" means a written agreement to submit present future
differences to arbitration, whether an arbitrator is named therein or not ;
(b) "award" means an arbitration award;
(c) "Court" means a Civil Court having jurisdiction to decide the questions forming the
subject-matter of a suit, but does not, except for the purpose of arbitration proceedings under
section 21, include a Small Cause Court;
(d) "legal representative" means a person who in law represents the estate of a deceased
person, and includes any person who intermeddles with the estate of the deceased, and, where a
party acts in a representative character, the person on whom the estate devolves on the death of
the party so acting ;
(e) "reference" means a reference to arbitration.