Jurisdiction of Courts and Enforcement of Judgments Act , 1993

PART I Preliminary and General

1 Short title, collective citation, construction and commencement.

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Jurisdiction of Courts and Enforcement of Judgments Act, 1993.

(2) The Principal Act and this Act may be cited together as the Jurisdiction of Courts and Enforcement of Judgments Acts, 1988 and 1993, and shall be construed together as one.

(3) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as, by order or orders made by the Minister for Equality and Law Reform under this section, may be fixed therefor either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions.

(4) An order made under subsection (3) shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made.

2 “Principal Act”.

2.—In this Act “the Principal Act” means the Jurisdiction of Courts and Enforcement of Judgments (European Communities) Act, 1988.

PART II Amendments to Principal Act consequent on 1989 Accession Convention

3 Amendment of section 1 of Principal Act.

3.—Section 1 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of the following definitions for the definitions of “Contracting State” and “the Conventions”:

“‘the 1989 Accession Convention’ means the Convention on the accession to the 1968 Convention and the 1971 Protocol (as amended in each case by the 1978 Accession Convention and the 1982 Accession Convention) of the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic signed at San Sebastián on the 26th day of May, 1989;”,

“‘Contracting State’ means—

(a) one of the original parties to the 1968 Convention (Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands), or

(b) one of the parties acceding to the 1968 Convention under the 1978 Accession Convention, the 1982 Accession Convention or the 1989 Accession Convention (the State, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the Hellenic Republic, Spain and the Portuguese Republic),

being a state in respect of which, as may be appropriate, the 1978 Accession Convention has entered into force in accordance with Article 39 of that Convention or the 1982 Accession Convention has entered into force in accordance with Article 15 of that Convention or the 1989 Accession Convention has entered into force in accordance with Article 32 of that Convention;”,

“‘the Conventions’ means the 1968 Convention, the 1971 Protocol, the 1978 Accession Convention, the 1982 Accession Convention and the 1989 Accession Convention;”,

(b) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

(a) references to, or to any provision of, the 1968 Convention or the 1971 Protocol are references to the 1968 Convention, the 1971 Protocol or the provision, as the case may be, as amended by—

(i) the 1978 Accession Convention,

(ii) the 1982 Accession Convention, and

(iii) the 1989 Accession Convention in so far as it is in force between the State and a state in respect of which the aforesaid Convention has entered into force in accordance with Article 32 thereof,

(b) any reference to a numbered Article is a reference to the Article so numbered of the 1968 Convention and any reference to a subdivision of a numbered Article shall be construed accordingly.”,

and

(c) in subsection (4), by the deletion of “Article 60 or” in each place where it occurs.

4 Amendment of section 4 of Principal Act.

4.—Section 4 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) The following reports (which are reproduced in the Official Journal of the European Communities), namely—

(a) the reports by Mr. P. Jenard on the 1968 Convention and the 1971 Protocol[^1],

(b) the report by Professor Peter Schlosser on the 1978 Accession Convention[^2],

(c) the report by Professor Demetrios Evrigenis and Professor K. D. Kerameus on the accession of the Hellenic Republic to the 1968 Convention and the 1971 Protocol[^3], and

(d) the report by Mr. Almeida Cruz, Mr. Desantes Real and Mr. P. Jenard on the 1989 Accession Convention[^4],

may be considered by any court when interpreting any provision of the Conventions and shall be given such weight as is appropriate in the circumstances.”.

5 Amendment of section 14 of Principal Act.

5.—Section 14 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) Subject to Title II of the 1968 Convention, the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court as respects proceedings that may be instituted in the State by virtue of Article 2, 8.1, 11, 14 or 16 (1) (b) shall, where, apart from this subsection, that jurisdiction would be determined by reference to the place where the defendant or one of the defendants resides or carries on business, be exercised by the judge of the Circuit Court for the time being assigned to the circuit where the defendant or one of the defendants ordinarily resides or carries on any profession, business or occupation.”.

6 Texts of Conventions and 1971 Protocol.

6.—(1) For convenience of reference there are set out in the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Schedules, respectively, to this Act:

(a) the 1968 Convention, as amended by Titles II and III of the 1978 Accession Convention, Titles II and III of the 1982 Accession Convention and Titles II and III of and Annex I to the 1989 Accession Convention,

(b) the 1971 Protocol, as amended by Title IV of the 1978 Accession Convention, Title IV of the 1982 Accession Convention and Title IV of the 1989 Accession Convention,

(c) Titles V and VI of the 1978 Accession Convention, as amended by the 1989 Accession Convention,

(d) Titles V and VI of the 1982 Accession Convention,

(e) Titles VI and VII of the 1989 Accession Convention,

being texts prepared from the authentic texts in the English language referred to in Articles 37 and 41 of the 1978 Accession Convention, Article 17 of the 1982 Accession Convention and Article 34 of the 1989 Accession Convention.

(2) Section 3 (2) of, and the First, Second, Third and Fourth Schedules to, the Principal Act are hereby repealed.

PART III Lugano Convention

7 Interpretation (Part III).

7.—(1) In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires—

“Contracting State” means a state in respect of which the Lugano Convention has entered into force or taken effect in accordance with Article 61 or 62;

“the Lugano Convention” means the Convention on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters signed at Lugano on the 16th day of September, 1988, and includes Protocol 1;

“Protocol 1” means the Protocol on certain questions of jurisdiction, procedure and enforcement signed at Lugano on the 16th day of September, 1988.

(2) A document purporting to be a copy of a judgment given by a court of a Contracting State shall, for the purposes of this Act, be regarded as being duly authenticated if it purports—

(a) to bear the seal of that court, or

(b) to be certified by a person in his capacity as a judge or officer of that court to be a true copy of a judgment given by that court.

(3) In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires, a reference to a numbered Article is a reference to the Article so numbered of the Lugano Convention and a reference to a subdivision of a numbered Article shall be construed accordingly.

(4) (a) The Minister for Foreign Affairs may by order declare—

(i) that any state specified in the order is a Contracting State, or

(ii) that a denunciation (the text of which shall be set out in the order) has been made pursuant to Article 64, a declaration (the text of which shall be set out in the order) has been made pursuant to Article Ia, Ib or IV of Protocol 1 or a communication (the text of which shall be set out in the order) has been made pursuant to Article 63 or Article VI of Protocol 1.

(b) An order that is in force under this subsection shall be evidence—

(i) as respects any declaration under paragraph (a) (i) therein, that any state to which the declaration relates is a Contracting State, and

(ii) as respects any declaration under paragraph (a) (ii) therein, that the denunciation pursuant to Article 64, the declaration pursuant to Article Ia, Ib or IV of Protocol 1 or, as the case may be, the communication pursuant to Article 63 or Article VI of Protocol 1, to which the first mentioned declaration relates was made and of its contents.

(c) The Minister for Foreign Affairs may by order amend or revoke an order under this subsection including an order under this paragraph.

8 Application (Part III).

8.—Subject to Article 54B, this Part applies to any judgment or order (by whatever name called) that is a judgment for the purposes of the Lugano Convention.

9 Lugano Convention to have force of law.

9.—(1) The Lugano Convention shall have the force of law in the State and judicial notice shall be taken of it.

(2) For convenience of reference, the authentic text in the English language of the Lugano Convention referred to in Article 68 thereof and the text in that language of Protocol 1 are set out in the Sixth and Seventh Schedules to this Act.

10 Interpretation of Lugano Convention.

10.—(1) Judicial notice shall be taken of relevant decisions delivered by courts of other Contracting States concerning provisions of the Lugano Convention and a court shall, when applying and interpreting its provisions, pay due account to the principles laid down by those decisions.

(2) Judicial notice shall be taken of the report by Mr. P. Jenard and Mr. G. Mller on the Lugano Convention[^1] and that report may be considered by any court when interpreting any of the provisions of the Convention and shall be given such weight as is appropriate in the circumstances.

11 Application of certain provisions of Principal Act.

11.—(1) Sections 5 to 14 (as amended by section 5 of this Act) of the Principal Act shall apply in relation to the application of the Lugano Convention in the State pursuant to section 9 of this Act as they apply in relation to the application pursuant to that Act of the Conventions (within the meaning of the Principal Act) with the following modifications and with any other necessary modifications:

(a) references to a judgment, maintenance creditor, maintenance debtor, maintenance order, enforcement order and Contracting State shall be construed as references to a judgment, maintenance creditor, maintenance debtor, maintenance order, enforcement order and Contracting State within the meaning of this Part, and

(b) references to numbered Articles of the 1968 Convention (within the meaning of the Principal Act) shall be construed as references to the corresponding Articles of the Lugano Convention.

(2) In this section, unless the context otherwise requires—

“enforcement order” means—

(a) an order made by the Master of the High Court under section 5 of the Principal Act as applied by this section for the recognition or enforcement of the whole or part of a judgment, or

(b) an order of the High Court for the recognition or enforcement of the whole or part of an instrument or settlement referred to in Title IV of the Lugano Convention,

and includes an enforcement order made or varied on appeal from a decision of the Master of the High Court or a decision of the High Court;

“judgment”, except in section 8 of this Act, means a judgment or order to which, by virtue of the said section 8, this Part applies;

“maintenance creditor” means, in relation to a maintenance order, the person entitled to the payments for which the order provides;

“maintenance debtor” means, in relation to a maintenance order, the person liable to make payments under the order;

“maintenance order” means a judgment that is a judgment relating to maintenance (within the meaning of the Lugano Convention) in so far, but only in so far, as it provides for the making of periodic payments.

FIRST SCHEDULE Text of the 1968 Convention as amended by the 1978 Accession Convention, the 1982 Accession Convention and the 1989 Accession Convention[^1]

CONVENTION

on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters

PREAMBLE

THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES TO THE TREATY ESTABLISHING THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY,

Desiring to implement the provisions of Article 220 of that Treaty by virtue of which they undertook to secure the simplification of formalities governing the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments of courts or tribunals;

Anxious to strengthen in the Community the legal protection of persons therein established;

Considering that it is necessary for this purpose to determine the international jurisdiction of their courts, to facilitate recognition and to introduce an expeditious procedure for securing the enforcement of judgments, authentic instruments and court settlements;

Have decided to conclude this Convention and to this end have designated as their Plenipotentiaries:

(Designations of Plenipotentiaries of the original six Contracting States)

WHO, meeting within the Council, having exchanged their Full Powers, found in good and due form,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

TITLE I

SCOPE

Article 1

This Convention shall apply in civil and commercial matters whatever the nature of the court or tribunal. It shall not extend, in particular, to revenue, customs or administrative matters.

The Convention shall not apply to:

TITLE II

JURISDICTION

SECTION 1

Article 2

Subject to the provisions of this Convention, persons domiciled in a Contracting State shall, whatever their nationality, be sued in the courts of that State.

Persons who are not nationals of the State in which they are domiciled shall be governed by the rules of jurisdiction applicable to nationals of that State.

Article 3

Persons domiciled in a Contracting State may be sued in the courts of another Contracting State only by virtue of the rules set out in Sections 2 to 6 of this Title.

In particular the following provisions shall not be applicable as against them:

—in Belgium: Article 15 of the civil code (Code civil—Burgerlijk Wetboek) and Article 638 of the judicial code (Code judiciaire—Gerechtelijk Wetboek),

—in Denmark: Article 246 (2) and (3) of the law on civil procedure (Lov om rettens pleje),

—in the Federal Republic of Germany: Article 23 of the code of civil procedure (Zivilprozeordnung),

—in Greece: Article 40 of the code of civil procedure (K),

—in France: Articles 14 and 15 of the civil code (Code civil),

—in Ireland: the rules which enable jurisdiction to be founded on the document instituting the proceedings having been served on the defendant during his temporary presence in Ireland,

—in Italy: Article 2 and Article 4, Nos 1 and 2 of the code of civil procedure (Codice di procedura civile),

—in Luxembourg: Articles 14 and 15 of the civil code (Code civil),

—in the Netherlands: Articles 126 (3) and 127 of the code of civil procedure (Wetboek van Burgerlijke Rechtsvordering),

—in Portugal: Articles 65 (1) (c), Article 65 (2) and Article 65A (c) of the code of civil procedure (Código de Processo Civil) and Article 11 of the code of labour procedure (Código de Processo de Trabalho),

—in the United Kingdom: the rules which enable jurisdiction to be founded on:

(a) the document instituting the proceedings having been served on the defendant during his temporary presence in the United Kingdom; or

(b) the presence within the United Kingdom of property belonging to the defendant; or

(c) the seizure by the plaintiff of property situated in the United Kingdom.

Article 4

If the defendant is not domiciled in a Contracting State, the jurisdiction of the courts of each Contracting State shall, subject to the provisions of Article 16, be determined by the law of that State.

As against such a defendant, any person domiciled in a Contracting State may, whatever his nationality, avail himself in that State of the rules of jurisdiction there in force, and in particular those specified in the second paragraph of Article 3, in the same way as the nationals of that State.

SECTION 2

Article 5

A person domiciled in a Contracting State may, in another Contracting State, be sued: