§ 171.001.Arbitration Agreements Valid

The first sentence of the Texas arbitration statute reverses centuries of hostility to these agreements.

A written agreement to arbitrate is valid and enforceable. Writing is the only formality the section demands.

Both kinds of agreement count. An agreement to arbitrate a controversy that exists when it is signed, and an agreement to arbitrate whatever arises later.

The second kind is the one that mattered historically. Common law courts would not order specific performance of a promise to arbitrate a future dispute, so a party could walk away from the clause and litigate. Chapter 173 says so in terms for the nonprofit arbitration it governs.

Revocation is limited to ordinary contract grounds. A party may revoke the agreement only on a ground that exists at law or in equity for revoking a contract.

That is the whole of the escape route. Fraud, duress, mistake, lack of capacity and the rest of contract law apply, and a change of mind is not among them.

The section puts arbitration agreements on the same footing as other contracts — no better, and no worse.

Two neighbouring provisions qualify it. Section 171.002 lists agreements the chapter does not reach, and Section 171.022 forbids enforcing an agreement that was unconscionable when made.

A separate federal statute governs many arbitration agreements affecting interstate commerce, and the two bodies of law overlap constantly in Texas practice.