Separability of arbitration agreements preserves arbitration even when the underlying contract's validity is contested. The separability of an arbitration agreement treats the arbitration clause as independent from the underlying contract, enabling arbitration of disputes about contract validity and shielding the arbitration agreement from formal defects in the substantive contract. Severability of statutory or contractual provisions depends on legislative intent: valid provisions are sustained if they form a coherent, operative whole after excision of invalid parts, but are rejected where provisions are inextricably linked or where excision would require judicial rewriting.