Jurisdiction - Rule 34

Front 1

What is the value given to a judgment rendered by a foreign country outside the United Kingdom?

Back 1

It has no direct operation, but it may
a) be enforced by claim or counterclaim at common law or under statutes, and
b) be recognised as a defence to a claim or as conclusive of an issue in a claim.

Hint 1

When a foreign judgment will be binding in England

Front 2

What's the distinction between enforcement and recognition?

Back 2

1) A court must recognise every judgment which it enforces, but
2) It may not enforce every judgment which recognises
3) Money judgments only are capable of enforcement by execution
4) Non-money judgments are recognised
5) Declaratory judgments are recognised, e.g., one which declares the status of a person
6) A divorce decree is recognised, but
7) Ancillary orders to divorce decrees may be enforced, if a divorce decree orders the payment of any sum
8) If a party rely on a foreign judgment in England to resist a claim,
in which case what the party is seeking is recognition qua assignment and not qua judgment
Example: if a foreign judgment in rem decrees the sale of a ship in favour of A, A may resist proceedings in England by the owner of the ship in reliance of the foreign judgment.

Front 3

How is enforcement done at common law?

Back 3

1) By direct execution of the judgment,
and he must
2) Bring an action in England on the foreign judgment

Front 4

How else can a party seek to enforce a judgment at common law?

Back 4

By summary judgment under Part 24 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998
(previously Order 14 of the Rules of the Supreme Court).

Front 5

What is the ground to proceed with summary judgment at common law of a foreign judgment?

Back 5

That the defendant has no real prospect of successfully defending the claim.

Cases:

Grant v. Easton (1883) 13 Q.B.D. 302 (C.A.)
Colt Industries Inc. v. Sarlie (No. 2)
[1996] 1 W.L.R. 1287 (C.A.)

Front 6

What will happen if judgment creditor's application for summary judgment is successful?

Back 6

The defendant will not be allowed to defend at all.

Front 7

What is the English judges' tendency in relation to defences to a claim on a foreign judgment?

Back 7

They narrowly circumscribe the defences that may be pleaded, which means the foreign judgments are in practice enforceable at common law much more easily than they are in many foreign countries.

Front 8

How is a foreign judgment enforceable under statute?

Back 8

By registration, which is a more direct process than at common law.

Front 9

What are the statutes in force now for enforcement of foreign judgments in England?

Back 9

The Administration of Justice Act 1920
The Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1993
The Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982
EC Regulation 44/2001 (Brussels I)

Front 10

What are the basic features of the 1920 Act?

Back 10

1) Reciprocal enforcement of superior couts within the United Kingdom and other territories in the Commonwealth

2) It has been extended by Order in Council to many countries
See post para. 14-161

3) Registration is discretionary, and not of right

4) Although a party may still seek enforcement at common law, if registration is refused, he is discouraged by a provision that it should ordinarily involve sacrifice of the costs of the claim.
Section 9(5).

Front 11

Is the Administration of Justice Act 1920 still in force?

Back 11

Yes but its application to territories to which it had not already been applied was excluded by Order in Council made under the 1933 Act, with the intention that the latter Act's wider scheme should ultimately replace the 1920 Act.