Foreign Judgment - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition foreign-judgment

Definition :

Foreign judgment, it is a well established pro-position in Private International law that unless a foreign Court has jurisdiction in the international sense, a judgment delivered by that Court would not be recognised or enforceable in India, Sankaran Govindan v. Lakshmi Bharathi, AIR 1974 SC 1764: (1975) 3 SCC 351: (1975) 1 SCR 57.

Means the judgment of a foreign Court. [Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), s. 2 (6)]

--A foreign judgment, i.e., a judgment of a foreign court, stands on a very different footing from a judgment of a court of this country. It cannot be enforced here by execution like an English judgment; it can only be enforced by bringing an action on it as if it were a contract, which of course it is not, though it is convenient to treat it as such. It is not strictly in this country res judicata, and therefore does not create an absolute estoppel. Nevertheless it is practically conclusive between the parties on the merits. Every presumption will be made in favour of a foreign judgment. It will be presumed that the court had jurisdiction, and it will be no defence to an action founded on it that the foreign court made a mistake either in its own law or ours. But it may be impeached if the foreign court acted perversely, or had no jurisdiction, or the judgment was obtained by fraud, or the defendant had no notice of the proceedings, or if the judgment was 'contrary to the first principles of reason and justice.'--Odgers on the Common Law, pp. 946 et seq.

The (English) Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 13), provides for the enforcement of judgments given in foreign countries which accord reciprocal treatment to judgments given in this country. The countries and the courts in those countries to which the Act may apply are specified by Orders in Council, which may be extended to British Dominions, Protectorates and mandated territories. The Act (s. 7), provides that Part II of the (English) Administration of Justice Act, 1920 (10 & 11 Geo. 5, c. 81), shall cease to have effect in relation to such Dominions except to such part of the said Dominions to which the Act of 1920 extends at the date of an Order under the Act of 1933, superseding an Order under Part II of 1920. See also JUDGMENT EXTENSION ACTS. Consult Piggott on Foreign Judgments; Dicey's Conflict of Laws.