The court was asked to settle the fate of Spanish estates which had been granted to the first Duke together with a title of nobility. To do this it had to consider the effect of Spanish law: ‘It would be difficult to find a harder task than that which faces me, namely, of expounding for the first time either in this country or Spain the relevant law of Spain as it would be expounded by the Supreme Court of Spain, which up to the present time has made no pronouncement on the subject, and having to base that exposition on evidence which satisfies me that on this subject there exists a profound cleavage of legal opinion in Spain, and two conflicting decisions of courts of inferior jurisdiction.’ and ‘The task of an English judge, who is faced with the duty of finding as a fact what is the relevant foreign law, in a case involving the application of foreign law, as it would be expounded in the foreign court, for that purpose notionally sitting in that court, is frequently a hard one; but it would be difficult to imagine a harder task than that which faces me, namely, of expounding for the first time either in this country or in Spain the relevant law of Spain as it would be expounded by the Supreme Court of Spain, which up to the present time has made no pronouncement on the subject, and having to base that exposition on evidence which satisfies me that on this subject there exists a profound cleavage of legal opinion in Spain, and two conflicting decisions of courts of inferior jurisdiction’.
Judges:
Wynn-Parry J
Citations:
[1947] Ch 506
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – R Griggs Group Ltd and others v Evans and others (No 2) ChD 12-May-2004
A logo had been created for the claimants, by an independent sub-contractor. They sought assignment of their legal title, but, knowing of the claimant’s interest the copyright was assigned to a third party out of the jurisdiction. The claimant . .
Cited – Iran v Berend QBD 1-Feb-2007
The Republic of Iran sought the return of a fragment of ancient Achaemenid relief in the possession of the defendant, saying that it was part of an ancient monument. The defendant said that she had bought it properly at an auction in Paris. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Jurisdiction
Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.199519