Conflict of laws—Foreign judgment— Enforcement

Queen’s Bench Division, Commercial Court, Blair J, 29 January 2009

Under s 31 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 (CJJ 1982) a foreign judgment against a state, other than the UK or the state to which the court which pronounced the judgment belongs, is to be recognised and enforced in the UK if it would be so recognised and enforced if it had not been given against a state and the foreign court would have had jurisdiction in the matter if it had applied rules corresponding to those applicable to such matters in the UK in accordance with ss 2 to 11 of the State Immunity Act 1978 (SIA 1978).

Andrew Onslow QC, Jonathan Nash QC and Peter Ratcliffe (instructed by Dechert LLP) for the claimant. Anthony Trace QC, Benjamin John and Ciaran Keller (instructed by Travers Smith LLP) for the defendant.

The proceedings arose out of a Fiscal Agency Agreement of October 1994 (the