No Contractual Obligation to Try Case in New York
(Gibraltar) The appellant had invested in a fraudulent Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff. They were repaid sums before the fund collapsed, and the trustees now sought repayment by way of enforcement of an order obtained in New York.
Held: The appeal was allowed. There was no basis in the evidence for the assertion that there was a contractual term that Vizcaya submitted to the New York jurisdiction. The jurisdiction agreement would be governed by New York law, and what disputes to which it is applicable would be a question of interpretation governed by the applicable law. But there was no evidence of any rules of interpretation under New York law which could lead the Gibraltar court to the conclusion that any implied submission under the clause would apply to avoidance proceedings.
Lord Neuberger, Lord Mance, Lord Clarke, Lord Sumption, Lord Collins
[2016] UKPC 5, [2016] Bus LR 413, [2016] WLR(D) 70
Bailii, WLRD
Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933 4(2)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Copin v Adamson CA 1875
The plaintiff sought to enforce here a judgment obtained in France against the defendant, who now pleaded that he was not a native of and had not lived in France. He had not been served with any process or had any involvement in or knowledge of the . .
Cited – Feyerick v Hubbard 1902
A contract between a British subJect and resident and a foreigner provided for the contact to be governed by the courts of Belgium.
Held: The clause was enough to give the Belgian courts jurisdiction and for the finding to be effective though . .
Cited – Schibsby v Westenholz CA 1980
The parties were both Danish, the plaintiffs resident in France and the defendants in London. The plaintiffs now sought to enforce a judgment obtained against the defendangt in France in default of their appearance. The defendants had no property in . .
Cited – Vallee And Others v Dumergue CExC 6-Jul-1849
A provision in the constitution of a company regulated proceedings against shareholders. The plaintiff liquidators sought enforcement in England of a French judgment against a shareholder for his contribution to the debts of the company. The . .
Cited – The Bank of Australasia v Harding 1850
The members, resident in England, of a company formed for the purpose of carrying on business in a place out of England, are bound, in respect of the transactions of that company, by the law of thc country in which the business is carried on . .
Cited – The Bank of Australasia v Nias 1851
By an Act of the Colonial Legislature of New South Wales, it was provided tbat a banking company should sue and be sued in the name of its chairman, arid that execution on any judgment against the oompany might be issued against the property of any . .
Cited – Sirdar Gurdyal Singh v The Rajah of Faridkote PC 28-Jul-1894
(Punjab) THe Rajah of Faridkote had obtained in the Civil Court of Faridkote (a native state) ex parte judgments against Singh (his former treasurer), which he sought to enforce in Lahore, in British India. Singh was not then resident in Faridkote . .
Cited – Blohn v Desser 1962
The plaintiff had obtained a default judgment in Austria against an Austrian partnership, and sought to enforce it in England against an English resident who was a sleeping partner in the firm. Her name was registered as a partner in the commercial . .
Cited – Vogel v RA Kohnstamm Ltd 1973
Enforcement at common law wa sought of an Israeli default judgment in favour of an Israeli buyer of leather against an English company. The plaintiffs argued that the defendants were resident in Israel or had by implication agreed to submit . .
Cited – Rubin and Another v Eurofinance Sa and Others SC 24-Oct-2012
The Court was asked ‘whether, and if so, in what circumstances, an order or judgment of a foreign court . . in proceedings to adjust or set aside prior transactions, eg preferences or transactions at an undervalue, will be recognised and enforced in . .
Cited – Mattar and Saba v Public Trustee 1952
Alberta Appellate Division – The court denied enforcement of a Quebec judgment on promissory notes, and held that an agreement to submit to the jurisdiction of a foreign court is not to be implied from the fact that the defendant has entered into a . .
Cited – Sfeir and Co v National Insurance Co of New Zealand 1964
The court was asked as to the enforceability of a Ghanaian judgment on a marine insurance contract under the 1920 Act.
Held: Mocatta J accepted that ‘an implied submission or agreement to submit can satisfy the words of [section 9(2)(b)]’. But . .
Cited – Adams v Cape Industries plc ChD 1990
The piercing of the veil argument was used to attempt to bring an English public company, which was the parent company of a group which included subsidiaries in the United States, within the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States. Where a . .
Cited – Jamieson v Northern Electricity Supply Corp (Private) Ltd 1970
It was argued that there had been an implied submission to the Zambian courts by an employee because the contract of employment was entered into in, and to be performed in Zambia, and assumed to be governed by Zambian law, and that a Azambian . .
Cited – Dunbee Ltd v Gilman and Co, (Australia) Pty Ltd 1968
New South Wales Court of Appeal -The court was asked to enforce an English default judgment. The judgment debtor had ‘agree[d] to submit to the jurisdiction’ of the English court by virtue of a contractual provision that the agreement was ‘governed . .
Cited – Sirdar Gurdyal Singh v The Rajah of Faridkote PC 28-Jul-1894
(Punjab) THe Rajah of Faridkote had obtained in the Civil Court of Faridkote (a native state) ex parte judgments against Singh (his former treasurer), which he sought to enforce in Lahore, in British India. Singh was not then resident in Faridkote . .
Cited – Vita Food Products Inc v Unus Shipping Co Ltd PC 30-Jan-1939
(Nova Scotia) Goods were shipped from Newfoundland under a bill of lading which contained an exemption for loss caused by the servants of the carrier. This exemption was void by the law of Newfoundland, whose legislature had enacted the Hague Rules, . .
Cited – Luxor (Eastbourne) v Cooper HL 1941
The vendor company had instructed agents to sell properties on its behalf and had agreed to pay commission on completion of the sale. The sale was agreed with a prospective purchaser introduced by the agents. Before the sale was completed, the . .
Cited – SA Consortium General Textiles v Sun and Sand Agencies Ltd CA 1978
The expression ‘agreed . . to submit to the jurisdiction’ in the 1933 Act meant ‘expressed willingness or consented to or acknowledged that he would accept the jurisdiction of the foreign court. It does not require that the judgment debtor must have . .
Cited – King v Brandywine Reinsurance Company CA 10-Mar-2005
Excess of Loss reinsurance. In the civil courts of England and Wales is that (with one obvious exception) expert evidence on the domestic law is inadmissible. . .
Cited – Emmott v Michael Wilson and Partners Ltd CA 12-Mar-2008
The court considered the implication of the obligation of confidentiality in banking contracts or in arbitration agreements. It is ‘really a rule of substantive law masquerading as an implied term’. . .
Cited – Societe Generale, London Branch v Geys SC 19-Dec-2012
The claimant’s employment by the bank had been terminated. The parties disputed the sums due, and the date of the termination of the contract. The court was asked ‘Does a repudiation of a contract of employment by the employer which takes the form . .
Cited – Marks and Spencer Plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Company (Jersey) Ltd and Another SC 2-Dec-2015
The Court considered whether, on exercising a break clause in a lease, the tenant was entitled to recover rent paid in advance.
Held: The appeal failed. The Court of Appeal had imposed what was established law. The test for whether a clause . .
Cited – AWB (Geneva) SA and Another v North America Steamships Ltd and Another CA 18-Jul-2007
A swap agreement provided that pursuant to the ISDA Master Agreement, the agreement was governed by English law and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. The trustee of one of the parties brought statutory avoidance . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Commonwealth, Torts – Other, Jurisdiction
Leading Case
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.559694