The binding resolution of disputes by one or more neutral persons (usually called “arbitrators”), as a substitute for judicial proceedings; may be invoked only by agreement of the parties to the dispute, but such agreement may be arrived at before there is an actual dispute, as, for example, through a clause in a contract between them, or after a dispute has arisen. Arbitration proceedings characteristically are less formal than those in court, and the rules of evidence and most rules of substantive law that would be invoked by a court are not applied.