It is important to keep uppermost in mind the fact that this analysis is of necessity concerned with the effect of the superimposition of a statutory scheme on the common law. Thus attention must first be directed to the statutory construction aspects of the problem, and more particularly to the part, if any, played by the so-called canons of statutory interpretation.
A survey of court opinions dealing with arbitration matters is primarily a study of breakdowns, real or alleged, in the arbitral arrangement. Such a study of appellate opinions necessarily presents a somewhat warped picture of Missouri arbitration because the emphasis is almost entirely upon the pitfalls of common-law or statutory rules relating to arbitration, or upon the failure of the parties or the arbitrators to abide those rules. Almost no…