§ 8.01-577.Submission of controversy; agreement to arbitrate; condition precedent to action.

This is Virginia’s foundational arbitration statute, older than the Uniform Arbitration Act that follows it in the same chapter. It lets people with a dispute — whether or not a lawsuit is already underway — agree to submit it to arbitration, and have that agreement placed on the record of a circuit or general district court, either by proof of an out-of-court agreement or by consent given in person or through counsel. Once that happens, the court issues a rule directing the parties to abide by whatever award results.

Subsection B protects the deal from second-guessing. A party cannot back out of an arbitration agreement just because arbitration turned out to be inconvenient — revocation is allowed only on grounds that would justify voiding any other contract, such as fraud or lack of capacity.

The subsection also makes arbitration a gatekeeper for the courthouse. Submitting the dispute to arbitration is treated as a condition that must happen before a suit can be filed on the same claim, and the agreement to arbitrate is enforceable on those terms — unless the parties themselves wrote their agreement to say that going to arbitration first is optional rather than mandatory.