Ron Brand on “The Hague Judgments Convention in the United States”

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In an article available here and forthcoming in the University of Pittsburgh Law Review, Professor Ronald A. Brand discusses the purposeful structure of the Hague Judgments Convention and how that structure can aid the implementation and operation of the Convention in countries with existing liberal and non-discriminatory approaches to judgments recognition—like the United States. In sum, the Convention is built on a list of “jurisdictional filters” in Article 5(1) and grounds for non-recognition in Article 7; if the former is satisfied, the judgment may circulate under the Convention, subject only to the grounds for non-recognition found in the latter. However, and importantly, Article 15 allows the recognition or enforcement of judgments under national law. For countries like the United States, with very liberal existing law on the recognition of foreign judgments, Article 15 may in fact provide a more efficient, effective, and economical approach, even under the Convention. This article addresses this concept.

Ulla Liukkunen on  Employment and Private International Law

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Written by Ulla Liukkunen, Professor of Labour Law and Private International Law at the University of Helsinki

The volume ´Employment and Private International Law´, edited by Ulla Liukkunen, has been published in the Private International Law Series (series editor: Symeon C. Symeonides)

of Edward Elgar Publishing in December 2020.

This edited collection gathers together a set of articles that address labour law and labour protection issues that are central to understanding the complex development of private international law and its tasks as well as broadening challenges of this field. The introduction by the editor, Ulla Liukkunen, Professor of Labour Law and Private International Law at the University of Helsinki, draws attention to characteristics of major developments in the field but also assesses the broader regulatory framework and challenges under way to traditional approaches. These challenges relate to both transnational labour law developments that require reassessment of the role of private international law and developments that derive from the ongoing transformation of substantive employment law itself, unfolding the limitations of protection restricted to a certain pre-determined legal status of the weaker party only.

With the legal landscape of labour protection changing, Liukkunen examines how private international law should be affected. According to her, old conceptions on which protection in private international law is traditionally based are becoming too narrow to be solely prioritized. Liukkunen discusses the importance of viewing the role private international law has assumed in the transnational dimension of collective bargaining and employee participation. Especially in the EU, regulatory approaches have been adopted that use private international law rules in a coordinative way so that labour rights can be upheld despite the pressures of the market.

The particular role of private international law as the ´mediator´ between labour law and company law in EU legislation reflects the expanding materialization of private international law. According to Liukkunen, it also relates to the use of conflicts law in order to enable establishment of transnational institutional structures that reduce obstacles to private regulatory authority. Moreover, the article analyses private self-regulation and related governance structures from the perspective of private international law, stressing a need for response to collisions posed by transnational normativities involved.

Presence as a basis for International Jurisdiction of a Foreign Court under Nigerian Private International Law

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Written by Richard Mike Mlambe, Attorney and Lecturer at University of Malawi- The Polytechnic

This is the third online symposium on Private International Law in Nigeria initially announced on this blog. It was published today on Afronomics.org. The first  introductory symposium was published here by Chukwuma Samuel Adesina Okoli and Richard Frimpong Oppong, and second symposium was published by Anthony Kennedy. More blog posts on this online symposium will follow this week.

Private International Law in Nigeria

Introduction

The Nigerian private international law (hereinafter PIL) regime is significantly influenced by the common law. As a result, the common law plays a major role in providing the applicable rules on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.[1] Like in many other common law jurisdictions, Nigerian courts recognize and enforce foreign judgments only if, in the eyes of Nigerian PIL, the foreign court had jurisdiction to render the judgment in question.[2] The recognized bases of jurisdiction are submission, residence and presence of the defendant within the foreign country.[3] This is also the position in other common law countries such as South Africa[4], Australia[6]and Malawi.[7]

As a result of the foregoing, Nigerian courts would refuse to recognize and enforce a judgment of a foreign court where the defendant was not present/resident in the foreign country and did not submit to its jurisdiction.[8] It must be emphasized that once the court finds that none of the above grounds is established, then the foreign court is deemed not to have possessed jurisdiction regardless of any connection that the parties or the transaction in issue may have had with the foreign country.

 

Nigerian and Canadian PIL

Okoli and Oppong have observed as follows:

“It is open to question whether the existing recognised bases of international competence – residence, presence, and submission – are adequate for the current international climate of increased trade, movement of persons, and transnational relationships. From a comparative perspective, Canadian courts have applied the real and substantial connection test. This basis   requires that a significant connection exist between the cause of action and the foreign court. Such a connection could include the fact that the cause of action arose in the jurisdiction of the foreign court, or that jurisdiction was the place in which the contractual obligation was to be performed. The ‘real and substantial connection’ test has not found favour outside Canada, and the test has been the subject of academic criticism.”[9]

Under Canadian PIL, the traditional common law principles are recognized such that a foreign court will be deemed to have jurisdiction if the defendant submitted to the jurisdiction of that court[10] or where the defendant was resident[11] or present[12] in the territory of the foreign court. In addition to these bases, the foreign court’s jurisdiction will be recognized where there was a real and substantial connection between the matter and the foreign court.[13] The real and substantial connection test entails that a Canadian court can recognize and enforce a foreign judgment that was delivered in circumstances where the defendant was not physically present in the jurisdiction when served with the originating process, as long as a real and substantial connection between the case or the parties and that foreign jurisdiction exists. This is therefore an additional ground of jurisdiction to the traditional common law grounds obtaining in Nigeria and other common law jurisdictions.

While Nigerian courts insist on the physical presence/residence of the defendant in the foreign territory[14]Canadian courts will go further to determine if there was a real and substantial connection between the matter and the foreign forum. This paper discusses the differences in the two approaches in view of their impact on the interests of justice between the parties, and suggest, with reasons, that Nigeria and the rest of the common law should derive lessons from Canadian PIL.

 

Discussion

This paper acknowledges that the requirement of presence of the defendant in the territory of the foreign court at the time of service ensures that the proceedings are conducted in accordance with the principles of natural justice. If the defendant was not present, the necessary originating processes may fail to reach him, or at least in good time, so as to have sufficient time to defend his case.[15]

However, the fact that in Nigerian a court may be satisfied that the foreign court had jurisdiction merely by virtue of the defendant’s presence therein, without more, is not satisfactory. Firstly, such an approach enables recognition of a foreign judgment that was rendered by a court that was not connected, or at least sufficiently connected, to the case, and therefore an inappropriate court. As a result, the international jurisdiction of a court that has no connection at all with the case or the parties would be established simply because the defendant happens to have been present within that country, no matter how brief the stay may have been in that country. This may encourage forum shopping.[16] The plaintiff may deliberately institute proceedings in a court that is not connected to the case and therefore inappropriate, knowing that the resulting judgment will be accorded recognition and enforcement in Nigeria. Actually, it is this paper’s view that if this is to be followed to its ultimate logical conclusion, then any country in the world has jurisdiction to render a judgment capable of recognition in Nigeria and other common law countries as long as the originating process was served on the defendant within its territory regardless of how little, if any, is that jurisdiction’s connection to the case.[17] We do not believe that such a result is consistent with the ends of justice.[18]

 

Secondly, the insistency on the presence of the defendant in the foreign court practically means that an unscrupulous defendant is at liberty, at the first hint of a dispute, to prevent the plaintiff from getting a judgment capable of recognition in England merely by leaving the natural and appropriate jurisdiction in which the plaintiff may institute proceedings against him. Much as the plaintiff may still initiate the proceedings against the defendant and service be effected in accordance with the procedure for service out of jurisdiction, this paper’s view is that as long as the plaintiff would be unable to secure recognition and enforcement of that judgment on the ground of the defendant’s absence from the jurisdiction, the plaintiff’s right to access to justice and legal remedies would be infringed.[19]

Actually, in our view, the injustice occasioned by the insistence on the presence of the defendant as a necessary and sufficient condition as far as jurisdiction is concerned, may be suffered not only by the plaintiff but also by the defendant. The plaintiff, as stated in the preceding paragraph, may be unable to enforce a judgment that was obtained in a country that is very appropriate forum as long as the defendant was not present, notwithstanding his right to access to justice and effective remedies.[20] On the part of the defendant, a Nigerian court may recognize and enforce a foreign judgment rendered by a court that was not in any material way connected to the case.[21] It is our view that considerations such as these necessitate a revision in the common law approach to presence as a ground of jurisdiction for purposes of recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.[22]

Under Canadian PIL, a foreign judgment will be enforced against a defendant who was not present within the territory of the foreign forum provided that there was a real and substantial connection between the matter and the forum.[23] Further, it must be noted that the Canadian court will ensure that the rights of the defendant were protected and that the proceedings were conducted in accordance with the principles of natural justice.[24] Put precisely, the courts will require the judgment creditor[25] to satisfy them that the defendant was aware of the proceedings against him through proof of service. The real and substantial connection test therefore enables the plaintiff to have the judgment enforced in circumstances where the court properly exercised jurisdiction even if service was not effected on the defendant within the foreign court’s territory. In this case, the plaintiff’s fundamental right to access to justice and legal remedies as well as the defendant’s right to be duly served with the originating process and to have sufficient time to defend his case are both served.[26]

There are two points that need to be made here. Firstly, under Nigerian PIL, provision is made for service outside jurisdiction if the defendant is not present within the jurisdiction and the case is sufficiently connected with Nigeria and it is the appropriate forum for hearing the case.[27] It can be argued, therefore, that if Nigerian law recognizes that there are circumstances under which courts can properly exercise jurisdiction against a defendant who is not within the jurisdiction and was actually served out of jurisdiction with originating process, why should they not accept that other courts can also exercise jurisdiction under the same circumstances and therefore be able to recognize and enforce judgments rendered by foreign courts under similar circumstances?[28]

Secondly, it must be stated that Nigerian courts are able to decline jurisdiction, when called upon to hear a case, if upon considering all relevant factors, they form the view that another forum exists with jurisdiction and is the more appropriate forum.[29] However, when a judgment is brought for recognition in Nigeria, Nigerian courts would not examine the appropriateness of the foreign court and would recognize that judgment even if the case was not in any way connected to that jurisdiction as long as the defendant’s presence is established. Why should the Nigerian courts, and indeed the courts in other common law jurisdictions, be able to recognize that jurisdiction should be exercised when it is appropriate to do so in the interest of justice when they are asked to hear a case, and then take a very different approach when it comes to recognition of foreign judgments so that they end up recognizing judgments rendered by forums that would be deemed appropriate?[30]

It is submitted that refusal to recognize and enforce foreign judgments by common law courts on the basis of the defendant’s absence from the foreign court, even when the matter was sufficiently connected to that foreign court, is an affront to the ends of justice in international litigation and is not in accordance with the realities of international commercial life. The approach of the Canadian courts through the adoption of the ‘real and substantial connection’ test is commendable. This paper laments that Nigeria and other common law jurisdictions have not joined Canada in this positive direction. An opportunity arose in Malawi, another common law jurisdiction, to modernize her international civil procedure when the Courts (High Court) (Civil Procedure) Rules (2017) were enacted. There is no provision at all with regard to recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, which leaves the common law regime unchanged. One can only express regret at this missed opportunity.

 

Conclusion

It has been seen that presence of the defendant in the foreign jurisdiction is a basis of jurisdiction of the foreign court for a judgment rendered by that court to be recognized and enforced in Nigeria. In Canada, it is also a recognized basis of the jurisdiction of the foreign court but a foreign judgment may be recognized even when the defendant was not present in the foreign country as long as a real and substantial connection exists between the matter and the foreign jurisdiction.

This paper is of the view that the insistence of the common law on the presence of the defendant in the foreign country leads to injustices in circumstances where recognition is accorded to a judgment having been delivered in a foreign forum that was not appropriate, on one hand, or when a foreign judgment is refused recognition where it was rendered by an appropriate court merely on the basis of the defendant’s absence from the foreign jurisdiction, on the other hand. It is therefore submitted that Nigeria and the rest of the common law should join Canada in applying and developing a test that prevents presence or absence of a defendant from undermining the ends of justice in international litigation and, in particular, in the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.

[1] See Richard Frimpong Oppong Private International Law in Commonwealth Africa (Cambridge University Press) 2013 p. 313.

[2] Nigeria law has both a statutory and common law regime for the enforcement of foreign judgments. In this paper, the focus is exclusively on the common law regime. Further, this paper focuses on jurisdiction as a condition of the recognition and enforcement of the foreign judgment and the other conditions (such as finality of the foreign judgment) are not addressed.

[3] Oppong (n1 ) 320.

[4] Richman vBen Tovim, SCA [2006] 148, [2007] (2) SA 283

[5] Burham vSuperior Court of California, 495 US 604; and Born, Rutledge and Kluwer International Civil Litigation in United States Courts (2011) 1120.

[6] Herman vMeallin (1891) 8 WN (NSW) 38.

[7] Malawi also has both a statutory and common law regime for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.

[8] Submission is established either through choice of forum agreements or where he defendant pleads to the merits of the case without contesting jurisdiction which the court otherwise did not have.

[9] Chukwuma Samuel Adesina Okoli and Richard Fimpong Oppong Private International Law in Nigeria (Bloomsbury publishing) 2020 p 353.

[10] Richardson v Allen (1916), 28 D.L.R. 134 (Alta S.C. (A.D.))

[11] First Hawaiian Bank v Smith, [1999] A.J. No. 643, 245 A.R. 148 (Alta Q.B.).

[12] Royal Bank of Canada v Industmarine Ltd., [1982] B.C.J. No. 2365. The constitutionality of mere presence as a ground of jurisdiction is however a controversial issue in Canada.

[13] Morguard Investment Ltd v De Savoye, [1990] S.C.J, No.135, 76 D.L.R. (4th) 256 (S.C.C.). This is a landmark and revolutionary decision that marked a departure from the refusal of recognition of foreign judgments if the defendant was absent from the jurisdiction of the court that delivered the judgment. The court felt that time had come to take a different approach to recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Indeed the principles laid down in this case have been confirmed in the subsequent case law of the Supreme Court of Canada, most notably, in Beals v Saldanha (2003) 3 SCR 416.

[14] Assuming that the defendant did not submit to the jurisdiction of the foreign court

[15] See Castel Conflict of Laws Cases, Notes and Materials (1968) 956 where the author actually states that the question of whether a court should have jurisdiction to entertain actions against absent defendants and give judgments which though effective territorially can be recognized in other jurisdictions is a policy issue not for the courts, thereby suggesting (it is submitted) that the court should be slow to render recognition to such judgments except where by legislation they are empowered to do so.

[16] See Tilbury, Davies an Opeskin Conflict of Laws in Australia (2002) 139 where the learned authors write: “A party engages in forum shopping when it seeks to litigate its case in a forum has little genuine connection with the court or the parties. Both plaintiff and defendant may influence the forum in which a case is tried, but the plaintiff is usually better able to do so”.

[17] See Collins (ed) Dicey, Morris and Collins on the Conflict of Laws (2012) 693 who seem to justify mere presence as a ground of jurisdiction on the basis of the temporary allegiance owed by the defendant to the local sovereign.

[18] See Ehrenzweig The Transient Rule of Personal Jurisdiction; The “Power” Myth and Forum Conveniens in Jurisdiction and Private International Law (2014) 565.

[19] It is therefore respectfully submitted that this may amount to a denial of the right to legal remedies and redress by preventing the plaintiff from enforcing the judgment. See generally Grosvenor Casinos Ltd v Ghassan Halaoui (2009 ) 10 NWLR 309.

[20] See TC Hartley International Commercial Litigation Texts, Cases and Materials in Private International Law (2015) 406. The learned author states that actually as far as English courts are concerned, if the defendant was absent from the jurisdiction in question, the fact that a contract was breached in that foreign country or that the tort was committed there does not suffice to confer jurisdiction on the foreign court.

[21] This means that the plaintiff may benefit from his forum shopping.

[22] Indeed the consideration of the injustices occasioned by the traditional common law principles convinced the Supreme Court of Canada to adopt the real and substantial connection test.

[23] See n 13.

[24] If the plaintiff fails to show that the principles of natural justice were adhered to the court will refuse recognition of the foreign judgment.

[25] Usually the plaintiff

[26] It is the submission of this paper that this is the approach that is in accord with the nature of private international law because it is based on the recognition that the parties will not always be physically present in the same jurisdiction when causes of action arise between them. The real and substantial connection test, in the view of this paper, is a recognition of this reality.

[27] See, for example, High Court of Kaduna State (Civil Procedure) Rules 2007, Ord. 8, r. 1)

[28] In other words, why should Nigerian court be able to exercise jurisdiction when they are not ready to recognize the judgments rendered by foreign courts under the same circumstances?

[29] The doctrine of forum non conveniens. On this doctrine in general see Spiliada Maritime Corp v Cansulex Ltd [1987] AC 460.

[30] In other words, why should the Nigerian court recognize that there are circumstances under which they may not be the appropriate forum for the trial of certain cases and decline to do so, and fail to recognize that the same may be the case in other jurisdictions and only regard mere physical presence of the defendant in the foreign territory as conclusive, no matter how improper the exercise of jurisdiction may have been in the foreign court?

 

Cross-Border Families under Covid-19: Call for Papers

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The Minerva Center for Human Rights at Tel Aviv University will host an  international socio-legal (zoom-) workshop on 22-23 June 2021 to explore the impact of the Covid-19 crisis and its regulation on cross-border families:

Cross-border families (also known as transnational and globordered families) are a growing and diverse phenomenon. People around the globe create bi-national spousal relations, are assisted by cross-border reproduction services, or by a migrant care worker who provides care for a dependent family member. Likewise, families become cross-bordered when one of the parents relocates, with or without the child, or when a parent abducts the child. In addition, increasing rates of forced or voluntary migration create more and more cross-border families, with different characteristics and needs. While some kinds of cross-border families have attracted the attention of legal scholarship, other kinds are still neglected, and much is yet to be studied and discussed regarding the challenges embedded in the attempt to secure the right to family life in the age of globalization.

The global Covid-19 crisis provides more, and alarming, evidence of the socio-legal vulnerabilities of cross-border families. For example, bi-national couples are separated for long periods of time; intended parents are unable to collect their baby from the country of the surrogate; and families assisted by a migrant care worker, the workers, and their left behind families, are entangled in new complex relations of power and dependency. Likewise, the right to heath is at risk when a family member is denied treatment because of partial citizenship status, and questions such as the enforcement of child support across borders are even harder to address than in more peaceful times.

Crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, are often a methodological opportunity for socio-legal research. In many cases, a major social crisis shakes habitualization, and opens up taken for granted social scripts to individual and collective reflection. Likewise, such a crisis involves risk regulation and, in the current case, also plague governance—involving intense emergency regulative changes made by different nation-states that might both reveal and challenge deeply shared norms regarding familial rights and national interests. Hence, our current era lends itself more readily than stable, routinized periods to the investigation of current regulation, and the imagining of options for new regulation regarding cross-border families.

On 22-23 June 2021, we plan an international socio-legal workshop that will explore the impact of the Covid-19 crisis and its regulation on cross-border families. We hope to explore the ways Covid-19 restrictions affect cross-border families, and the role of the law, in different countries, in shaping this impact and in challenging it.

The questions during the workshop might include, but are not limited to:

  • How does the Covid-19 crisis affect cross-border families?
  • How do legal Covid-19 restrictions affect cross-border families?
  • Did national jurisdictions adapted their substantial and procedural laws to meet the challenges faced by cross-border families during the pandemic?
  • What can be learned from comparing different jurisdictions in their response to cross-border families’ needs during the pandemic?
  • What can be learned about the interrelations between globalization, borders, families, and the law, from this crisis?
  • What are the lessons to be learned from the pandemic on how can national, regional and international law be developed to better protect the rights of cross-border families, and those involved in their creation and everyday familial doing, in times of crisis and in more stable times?

Confirmed Keynote Speaker: Prof. Yuko Nishitani, Kyoto Univiertys Law School

The workshop will be conducted via Zoom, and is sponsored by the Minerva Center for Human Rights at Tel Aviv University. It will be open to the public, and hopefully, will set the foundations for further multinational research and collaboration.

We will give serious consideration to all high-quality relevant research, from any discipline. Work in progress is welcome, as long as the presentation holds new findings or insights and not only declaration of intent. Faculty members as well as independent researchers and advanced research students are welcome to submit.

The screening process for the workshop will include two phases:

Phase I – Abstract: 

Abstracts should include:

  • An overview of the main question and arguments of your contribution (up to 500 words)
  • Key words
  • Contact details [author(s), affiliation (including institute and department), and e-mail address]
  • Short bio of author/s (up to 250 words, each)

Abstracts must be in English and be submitted to this email address: eynatm@media-authority.com

Deadline for submission: 28 February 2021.

Phase II – Summary:

Those who’s abstract will be accepted, will be notified by 31 March 2021 and will be asked to submit a 3-pages summary of their paper by 20 April 2021. Accepted papers will be presented at the workshop. Presenters are expected to take part in all the workshop’s sessions.

Academic Organizers:

Prof. Daphna Hacker, Law Faculty and Gender Studies Program, Tel Aviv University; Prof. Paul Beaumont, Law Faculty, University of Stirling; Prof. Katharina Boele-Woelki, Bucerius Law School, Hamburg; Prof. Sylvie Fogiel-Bijaoui, The College of Management Academic Studies; Dr. Imen Gallala-Arndt, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology; Dr. Sharon Shakargy, Faculty of Law, Hebrew University; Prof. Zvi Triger, Law School, The College of Management Academic Studies

3rd German Conference for Young Private International Law Scholars on 18/19 Mar 2021

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On 18 and 19 March 2021, the third German Conference for Young Private International Law Scholars will be held at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg (via Zoom). The conference is dedicated to the question “PIL for a better world: Vision – Reality – Aberration?”
The programme, as well as further information on how to register, can be found here.
Twitter: @IPR_Nachwuchs

The Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments at Common Law in Nigeria

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Written by Anthony Kennedy, Barrister at Serle Court

This is the second online symposium on Private International Law in Nigeria initially announced on this blog. It was published today on Afronomicslaw.org. The first  introductory symposium was published here by Chukwuma Samuel Adesina Okoli and Richard Frimpong Oppong. More blog posts on this online symposium will follow this week.

Private International Law in Nigeria

Introduction

Authority exists for the proposition that a creditor of a foreign judgment may bring an action at common law in Nigeria, by which action he, in effect, seeks recognition and/or “enforcement” of that foreign judgment[1]. The common law action has not been abolished by statute or disapproved judicially but, sadly, it is not widely understood or used by practitioners/courts in Nigeria. This is unfortunate, especially where the statutory mechanism[2] for the enforcement of foreign judgments is certainly limited but otherwise shrouded in confusion[3]. This paper argues for a reawakening of the common law action.

 

The construction placed on the statutory regime

It is impossible properly to assess the scope for the common law action in Nigeria without first addressing the statutory mechanism for the enforcement of foreign judgments. The common law action only works in the space which has been left for it by the applicable statutory regime. Moreover, tactically, judgment creditors are likely to favour registration of the foreign judgment  under that statutory regime, where such registration is permitted, given the “better protection” which such regime affords them, at least theoretically, when compared with the common law[4].

With that in mind, the authorities yield the following propositions:

  1. the Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Ordinance 1922 (the ‘1922 Ordinance’) is still in force and applies to those jurisdictions to which it was extended by Proclamation prior to the passing of the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1961[5] (the ‘1961 Act’);

 

  1. the provisions of the 1961 Act only come into effect upon the making of an order by the Minister of Justice (pursuant to Section 3 of the 1961 Act)[6] and no such order has yet been made; but

 

  1. notwithstanding proposition 2, Section 10(a) of the 1961 Act does have effect, thereby providing the time limit within which the application to register a foreign judgment in Nigeria must be made[7]. Moreover, Section 10(a) of the 1961 Act applies even where the foreign judgment is from a jurisdiction to which neither the 1922 Ordinance nor the 1961 Act has been extended[8].

 

Difficulties generated by the legal profession’s approach to proposition 1

Proposition 1 holds, it is submitted, and, of itself, generates no difficulty for the continued existence and/or growth of the common law action. That said, the legal profession’s approach (and that of the courts) to proposition 1 has been problematic.

Two points are worth making here; both are demonstrative of problems which beset the current state of the law. First, insufficient attention has been paid to the consequence of proposition 1, meaning that its import has not been fully understood. This may, of course, be the result of practitioners and judges concentrating on establishing and endorsing proposition 1 (which process is still ongoing, given the difficult relationship between proposition 1 and proposition 3[9]). Even so, difficulty remains. By way of example: Section 3(1) of the 1922 Ordinance provides that an application for registration be made “at any time within twelve months after the date of the judgment, or such longer period as may be allowed by the court…” (italics added). Where one would have expected argument as to why the court should have, in the legitimate exercise of its discretion, extended the time within which the application could be made, one finds none[10]. A chance to establish when a judgment creditor might appeal to the court’s discretion[11], and, correlatively, when he might have to fall back on the common law action, has been missed.

The second point follows from the first. While, as noted, tactically less advantageous than registration under the statutory regime, Section 3(4) of the 1922 Ordinance allows a judgment creditor to bring an action at common law on the foreign judgment, rather than have it registered under the 1922 Ordinance itself[12]. In circumstances where courts have not heard substantial argument on the Section 3(1) discretion and/or have exhibited a hostile attitude towards extending the time within which to make the application for registration[13], one would have expected a much greater role carved out for the common law action; one remains disappointed. And doubly so because, while not free from all controversy[14], the common law action may be brought within a longer period of time than the 1922 Ordinance permits (if one discounts the fact that the court may, at its discretion, extend time thereunder). At a stroke – so long as the judgment debtor could demonstrate that the other requirements had been met[15] – reliance on the common law action would remove the judgment creditor’s need to act as swiftly as the 1922 Ordinance has been made to require[16].

 

Difficulties generated directly by proposition 3

The language in which Section 10(a) of the 1961 Act is couched gives rise to similar problems as those described when dealing with the first point under the previous sub-heading. Leaving those to the side, it is the second sentence of proposition 3 which poses the most significant risk to the continued life (such as it is) of the common law action in Nigeria. If “registration” is contemplated (or somehow required) when dealing with judgments from jurisdictions to which the statutory regime has not been extended, the common law action (which has nothing at all to do with “registration” of a foreign judgment) is rendered completely useless[17].

Several cases may be cited which combine to paint a rather gloomy picture in this regard. Teleglobe America Inc v 21st Century Technologies[18]is, as far as one can tell, the judiciary’s first (and so most egregious) brushstroke but others have since been added[19]. Taken collectively, they suggest that there is no room left for the common law action, even though there is Supreme Court authority which suggests that the statutory regime was not designed to kill it off.

To be sure, the statutory regime, properly construed, applies only to foreign judgments from a narrow field of jurisdictions. If this is thought to be a problem, the answer does not lie, it is submitted, in a distorted interpretation and application of that statutory regime. Supplementing (a narrow) statutory regime by allowing a judgment creditor to resort to the common law action makes sense: it recognises that the necessary reciprocity which underpins the statutory regime is absent in the majority of circumstances while, at the same time, preserving the judgment creditor’s ability to obtain the debt which the judgment debtor is said to owe, at least in circumstances where Nigerian legal policy (as set out in the rules which govern the common law action) thinks that he should. Judgments which treat this idea with kindness, or at least do not dismiss it out of hand, are to be welcomed[20].

 

 

Difficulties generated indirectly by proposition 3

If proposition 3’s formulation is the product of perceived problems either with the statutory regime or the common law action itself, that is most unfortunate. For, rather than alleviating those problems, proposition 3 rather ensures that they will continue, at least until action on the part of the legislator (which action appears to be some way off).

Removing the common law action from view means that the rules which govern that common law action cannot be changed by the judiciary (which change might allow certain kinks within those rules to be ironed out). To be sure, the common law world has not stood still in relation to the enforcement of foreign judgments: interesting questions remain to be explored. For instance, there is ongoing debate as to the circumstances in which a foreign court should be accorded international jurisdiction over the judgment debtor[21] and different views have been expressed regarding whether the common law may be used to enforce judgments from supra-national tribunals[22]. Consideration of these questions in Nigeria has been stymied by the side-lining of the common law action.

Perhaps even more importantly, with an eye to the future, deliberately obscuring the common law action prevents one from taking a clear view of the current Nigerian legal system, insofar as it relates to the enforcement of foreign judgments, and so, in turn, prevents an assessment of the merits of signing up to international projects, like the recent (and still draft) Hague Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters. The answer to such questions is of supreme importance if Nigeria wishes to attract (legal) business from the continent as a whole. Those answers must be reached using all of the information available, which is why the common law action must somehow be revived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1]Alfred C Toepfer Inc v Edokpolor (1965) NCLR 89. More recently, see: Wilbros West Africa v Mcdonnel Contract Mining Ltd (2015) All FWLR 310.

[2] The overarching statutory regime for enforcement of foreign judgments comprises the Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Ordinance 1922 and the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1961.

[3] Olawoyin, Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Nigeria: Statutory Dualism and Disharmony of Law (2014) 10 JIPL 129, 140.

[4]CSA Okoli and RF Oppong, Private International Law in Nigeria (Hart, 2020) 360.

[5]Macaulay v RZB of Austria (2003) 18 NWLR 282.

[6]Marine & General Assurance Company Plc v Overseas Union Insurance Ltd (2006) 4 NWLR 622; Grosvenor Casinos Ltd v Ghassan Halaoui (2009) 10 NWLR 309.

[7]Witt & Busch Ltd v Dale Power Systems PLC (2007) 17 NWLR 1.

[8]Teleglobe America Inc v 21st Century Technologies Ltd (2008) 17 NWLR 108.

[9]VAB Petroleum Inc v Momah (2013) 14 NWLR 284.

[10] By way of example, see Macaulay, supra fn. 5, and Marine & General, supra fn. 6.

[11] For a recent example of when an English court might be likely to exercise a similar discretion, see: Berhad v Frazer-Nash Research Ltd[2018] EWHC 1848 (QB).

[12] Though, where he does so, he is subject to a costs penalty where the conditions in Section 3(4) of the 1922 Ordinance are not satisfied.

[13] See the cases cited supra fn. 10.

[14] Compare, for instance, the competing views of the proper period of limitation as expressed by Olaniyan, The Commonwealth model and conundrum in the enforcement of foreign judgement regime in Nigeria, (2014) Commonwealth Law Bulletin, 40:1, 76, 88 (who seemingly advocates a standard 12 year time limit) and Okoli and Frimpong Oppong “Private International Law in Nigeria”(Hart Publishing, 2020), at 358-359 (who state that it depends on the state of Nigeria in which the action is brought).

[15] As to which, see Okoli and Frimpong Oppong, supra fn. 14 at 351-358.

[16]In this respect, Ogbuagbu JSC’s judgment in Grosvenor, supra fn. 6, at 334-335 is particularly disappointing. See: Okoli and Frimpong Oppong, supra fn. 14, at 373.

[17] See, to similar effect, Olaniyan, supra fn. 14, 88.

[18]Supra fn. 8.

[19] See, inter alia, African Reinsurance Corp v Gilar Cosmetic Store (2010) All FWLR 1194 (concerning a judgment from Liberia) and Obasi v Mikson Establishment Industries Ltd (2016) 16 NWLR 335 (concerning a judgment from Niger).

[20]Wilbros, supra fn. 1. Even there, however, Counsel took great pains to say that this was not an attempt to enforce a foreign judgment and the reasoning of the court in relation to that submission is not always easy to understand.

[21] Compare the position adopted by the Supreme Court of Canada in (originally)Beals v Saldanha 2003 SCC 72 and (more recently) Club Resorts Ltd v Van Breda [2012] 1 SCR 572 with that of the English Supreme Court in Rubin v Eurofinance SA [2012] UKSC 46.

[22] Compare the decision of the South African Constitutional Court in Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe v Fick [2013] ZACC 22 with that of the Ghanaian Supreme Court in Republic v High Court (Commercial Division) Accra, ex parte AG NML Capital and Argentina, Civil Motion No J5/10/2013. For a Nigerian perspective, see: Adigun, Enforcing ECOWAS judgments in Nigeria through the Common Law Rule on the Enforcement of Foreign Judgments (2019) 15 JIPL 130.

The CJEU Does Not Play Games (When It Comes to Jurisdiction over Consumer Contracts)

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In what appears to be a rather straightforward extension of the Court’s earlier decisions in Cases C-498/16 Schrems and C-208/18 Petruchová, the CJEU held last week in Case C-774/19 Personal Exchange that a natural person contracting with the operator of an online gambling service remains a consumer in the sense of Article 15 of Regulation 44/2001 (Brussels I; now Article 17 of Regulation 1215/2012 (Brussels Ia)) even if they use it for many hours a day and make their living from it.

The question was referred in the context of a dispute between a user and the operator of a gambling website, concerning the alleged violation of certain rules by the user and the subsequent deletion of their account by the operator. The user, who had been playing about 9 hours of online poker per weekday for several years and won considerable sums of money from it, had brought an action in Slovenia although the contract, which the user had agreed to upon registration on the website, contained an exclusive jurisdiction clause in favour of Malta. As the defendant had not disputed that the service had been directed to Slovenia in the sense of Article 15(1)(c) Brussels I, the validity of the jurisdiction clause under Article 17 Brussels I (now Article 19 Brussels Ia) depended entirely on whether or not the user could still be considered a consumer in the sense of Article 15.

Although the Court begins its answer by the usual emphasis on the exceptional character and the resulting need for a narrow interpretation of Articles 15–17 (para. 24) and on the need to look at the purpose of the contract in question (para. 31), the rest of the decision consists entirely of a discussion of whether the claimant may have lost (“peut se voir refuser”) the quality of a consumer for the different reasons invoked by the defendant. According to the Court, this was not the case, neither in light of the sums earned by the claimant (paras. 33–36; as already decided in Petruchová) nor in light of their expertise (paras. 37–40; as already decided in Schrems). While the Court acknowledges the need for a dynamic interpretation of Article 15 (paras. 41–42), by which a party entering into a contract as a consumer could theoretically lose this status at a later point in the contractual relationship, the need for predictability prevents the consideration of the aforementioned factors.

In what Geert van Calster rightly describes as a confusing reference to substantive consumer law, the Court then also discusses to what extent the frequency and volume of the activity must be taken into account (paras 43–49). Seemingly seeking to align its decision with the one in Case C-105/17 Kamenova, where these factors had been considered, the Court qualifies it by holding that the claimant consumer does not lose this quality as long as they do not offer their services as a poker player for remuneration or formally register them.

Book Symposium Introduction -Private International Law in Nigeria (Hart Publishing, 2020)

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Written by Dr. Chukwuma Samuel Adesina Okoli, Post-Doctoral Researcher, T.M.C. Asser Institute and Dr. Richard Frimpong Oppong, Associate Professor, University of Bradford, School of Law

We earlier announced that the editors of Afronomicslaw.org invited Chukwuma and Richard to organise a symposium on Private International Law in Nigeria. The introduction to the symposium has now been published today in Afronomicslaw.org. Other posts on the symposium will be posted daily this week.

Private International Law in Nigeria

This Symposium focuses on the recent publication: Private International Law in Nigeria. For many, Nigeria needs no introduction: it is a federal country consisting of thirty-six states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. With increased cross-border transactions and investments, the significance of private international law (or conflict of laws) – the body of law that aims to resolve claims involving foreign elements – has become more accentuated than ever. Indeed, private international law rules have sometimes been invoked in resolving disputes with inter-state dimensions within the federation, especially on jurisdiction and choice of law matters. Conflict of laws has also been used to resolve disputes involving internal conflicts between various customary laws and between customary laws and the Nigerian Constitution or enabling statues, especially in the area of family law. In essence, because of its federal structure, private international law is relevant in both the inter-state and international litigation in Nigeria.

Prior to the publication of Private International Law in Nigeria, there was no comprehensive treatise on the subject in Nigeria. The Book aims to fill that academic void: drawing on over five hundred Nigerian cases, statutes, and academic commentaries, the Book examines mainly jurisdiction (in inter-state and international disputes), choice of law, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and international arbitral awards. It also examines remedies that affect foreign judicial proceedings such as antisuit injunction, and international judicial assistance to serve legal process and take evidence.

This Symposium brings together the reflections of four scholars on the book and explores some of the issues arising therefrom. In the Book, we examine the common law regime for enforcing foreign judgments in Nigeria and reveal the under-developed state of the law. Anthony Kennedy, a barrister at Serle Court, focuses on this aspect of the book to forcefully argue for a “reawakening of the common law action” to enforce foreign judgments. Kennedy is critical, and rightly so, of how the legal profession and the courts have treated the common law regime notwithstanding clear authority from the Supreme Court of Nigeria that the statutory regime for enforcing foreign judgments was not designed to kill off the common law regime. Kennedy argues that by not side-lining the common law regime, Nigeria may be able to partake in the judicial development of the regime that is going on in other parts of the common law world, as well as international projects such as the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters, 2019.

Richard Mike Mlambe, an Attorney and Lecturer at University of Malawi- The Polytechnic, picks up the theme of reform and judicial development of private international law, in a comparative discussion on the bases of jurisdiction in an action to enforce a foreign judgment. Mlambe commends Canada’s “real and substantial connection” basis of international competence. The real and substantial connection test promotes the liberal flow of judgments across borders. Mlambe calls on Nigeria and other common law jurisdictions to join Canada on its “lonely revolution”.

Dr Abubakri Yekini, a Lecturer in Law at Lagos State University, explores the enforceability of jurisdiction agreements in Nigeria drawing on the Book’s discussion which reveals, in the words of Yekini that “it is difficult to give a straight answer on whether jurisdiction agreements are enforced by Nigerian courts” – a state of affairs which he rightly argues creates uncertainties and is not good for international business transactions. Yekini examines three significant challenges to the enforcement of jurisdiction agreements in Nigeria, namely the courts’ mischaracterisation of such agreement as “ouster clauses”; mandatory statutes vesting exclusive jurisdiction in Nigeria courts; and the misapplication of the doctrine of forum non conveniens in cases involving breach of jurisdiction agreement, instead of the strong cause test. Yekini makes an impassioned plea for Nigerian courts to “promote party autonomy”, and a call on Nigeria to become party to the Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, 2005.

Orji Agwu Uka, a Senior Associate at Africa Law Practice (ALP), reflects on the state of private international law in Nigeria and calls for its wider study. Indeed, as Uka rightly acknowledges, for more than a decade, scholars have lamented the level of interest in private international law in Africa. Happily, private international law in Africa can hardly now be described as “the Cinderella subject seldom studied [and] little understood”. Uka undertakes a broad but careful review of the book – highlighting various topics examined in the book but focusing especially on the law on jurisdiction in international and inter-state matters. Uka commends Private International Law in Nigeria for filling a significant academic void on the Nigerian legal landscape.

It is our hope that the Book and this Symposium, in addition to being a rich legal resource for lawyers, judges and legislators would spur on further study of private international law in Nigeria, and Africa. Indeed, the Nigerian Group on Private International Law(“NGPIL”) has already been established and “set sail”. NGPIL aims to “(1) to improve the law in Nigeria in matters relating to private international law (“PIL”) (2) to persuade the Nigerian government to accede to the Hague Conventions on PIL (3) to liaise with other experts, groups, and research centres on PIL on a global level (4) to nurture, guide and develop the legal mechanism and framework for PIL in Nigeria (5) to be the collective voice of PIL experts for the Nigerian government, the judiciary, lawyers and other relevant stakeholders and, (6) to improve the links and communication between PIL experts in Africa”. The book: Private International Law in Nigeria will certainly make the work of NGPIL less daunting.

 

 

Introduction to the Elgar Companion to the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) — Part II

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This entry is the second of two parts that provide an introduction to the Elgar Companion to the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). It outlines the editors’ reflections on the 35 Chapters, drawing out some of the key themes that emerged from the Companion, including the HCCH’s contribution to access to justice and multilateralism. Together, Parts I and II offer readers an overview of the structure of the Companion (Part I, published on Conflict-of Laws on 8 December 2o2o) as well as of the core themes as they emerged from the 35 Chapters (Part II).

Both parts are based on, and draw from, the Editors’ Introduction to the Elgar Companion to the HCCH, which Elgar kindly permitted.

General reflections

The contributions in the Companion chronicle the evolution of the HCCH in the last 127 years and provide a deep insight into the operation and workings of the Organisation. In addition, they critically assess the past and current work of the HCCH, as well as providing impetus for possible future directions. The editors Thomas John, Rishi Gulati and Ben Koehler encouraged the authors to use the Companion as a platform for critical reflections and assessments – their familiarity with the HCCH, the Organisation’s work, but also its mandate and capacity, ensures the great value of each individual contribution.

The Companion can be of much interest in three particular ways.

First, it is an academic contribution that provides considered expositions on current and future legal issues in private international law in general. The selection of authors, which are drawn from different regions and legal backgrounds, allowed considering topics from a number of different perspectives. The quality of the contributions will result in the Companion serving a most useful source in the substantive development of private international law. It also will constitute a useful resource for States, judges, legal practitioners, academics, and other public and private international organisations engaged in advancing private international law, not only in terms of gaining an understanding of existing HCCH instruments, but also in their efforts towards legislative and policy reform.

Second, the Companion aims to provide considerable and thorough insight into the workings of the organisation itself, and thus serve well as a comprehensive practical guide to the HCCH. This will appeal to those who wish to gain a better understanding of the HCCH as an Organisation regardless of their familiarity with it. It may also benefit those who have been working with the Organisation for some time and wish to broaden or deepen their understanding further.

Finally, in addition to highlighting the successes of the HCCH, the aim has also been to critically analyse the organisation and its work. Much work has been done by the HCCH, but more is required, and the 35 Chapters reveal four underlying themes.

Theme I: Private international law and access to justice

The first underlying theme that can be observed throughout all contributions is how access to justice values increasingly underpin private international law. Just some examples include the call for enhanced access to documents in multiple languages; better use of technology to improve legal cooperation across borders; the need to enhance access to justice for consumers and international tourists; the impact of the right to a fair trial on access to justice for the employees of international organisations such as the HCCH; the bearing of fair trial rights on civil jurisdiction, such as through the doctrine of forum non conveniens; and ensuring access to justice for vulnerable sections of society.

In all those instances, access to justice is an important value, and in its various manifestations, starts to underpin and shape the development of private international law. This is a positive development. Private international law ought to be more than mere technical rules but should be driven by underlying tangible values that have great practical importance. Access to justice is a laudable tangible value, recognised in Sustainable Development Goal 16 of the UN. Private international law, and in particular the HCCH, could play a significant role in providing and strengthening access to justice at an international level. And there is some indication that the Organisation appreciates that it indeed can play this role, hinting at it in its most recent HCCH Strategic Plan 2019 – 2020. However, its appreciation is limited and mentioned only in the context of the HCCH’s non-normative work.[1] Based on the discussions in the Companion, it seems that the HCCH could – and should – pursue a comprehensive access to justice agenda across its entire normative and non-normative work programme with much more vigour than is currently the case.

Theme II: the interaction between public and private international law

Another theme underpinning the Companion’s contributions is the increased interaction between public and private international law. This theme is discernible in many Chapters, including in those that deal with civil jurisdiction. It transpires that this area is one where public and private international law can especially inform each other. While this interaction is now subject to increased academic scrutiny, the same does not seem to be the case in practice. Thus, it seems important, that the HCCH pays more attention to public international law developments when pursuing its projects, especially in the sphere of the further work on the Judgments Project. Equally, such increased attention to the public realm could mean that the public realm is likely to return the favour, which is equally needed.

Moreover, the interaction between HCCH instruments and human rights treaties, such as the UNCRC and UNCRPD, was evident. With many HCCH international family law instruments concerned with child protection and the protection of other vulnerable persons, this interaction is hardly surprising. But clear interrelationships exist in other spheres as well. For example, modern work environments, which are radically shifting through remote work technology and flexible workplace, the HCCH could also work towards greater cooperation with other international organisations, such as the ILO, to assist in developing international labour standards that better protect the rights of weaker parties, including the rules on civil jurisdiction in employment cases.

Theme III: Hard and soft law instruments

A third theme that emerged was the HCCH’s willingness to adopt soft law instruments as opposed to only facilitate the negotiation of binding international agreements or HCCH Conventions. There is no better example of this than the adoption of the 2015 Choice of Law Principles, which promote party autonomy.

With party autonomy perhaps now constituting a recognised connecting factor in private international law, as is also evident with the adoption of the 2005 Choice of Court Convention underpinned by this same connecting factor, the HCCH has no doubt made an important stride to embrace the potential of soft law instruments to achieve international consensus. Following the adoption of the 2019 Judgments Convention, which was decades in the making, and only successfully negotiated after the failures of the past were recognised, rectified, and compromises made, perhaps soft law instruments could be pursued with greater energy by the HCCH. Ultimately, it will be the experience of the 2015 Choice of Law Principles that will dictate whether more soft law instruments are negotiated under the umbrella of the HCCH.

Theme IV: multilateralism

A fourth theme that emerged is perhaps more subtle: multilateralism. The Companion recalls that the founder of the HCCH, T M C Asser, conceived the first Conference in 1893 not only as a platform which develops unified rules of private international law, but also as a forum in which experts come together and develop these rules in a peaceful and professional setting. This goal has not changed, and multilateral expertise is combined to forge innovative legal solutions to the vexed challenges of a globalized world. And these solutions are adopted by consensus, the decision-making technique which lies at the very heart of the HCCH.

When dealing with the Organisation, it is important to appreciate that it decides on every aspect of its work programme and budget by reaching to the furthest extent possible consensus among its Members.[2] This consensus-based approach has been chosen not without reason. While much effort may be exerted to achieve consensus, and achieving it may take longer, consensus-based decision making ensures the maximum buy-in of the Members in the outcomes produced by the HCCH. This buy-in becomes very clear in the Organisation’s premier decision-making bodies, the Diplomatic Sessions, which adopt the HCCH’s multilateral Conventions; the Council on General Affairs and Policy (CGAP), the “engine room” which determines the Organisation’s annual work programme; and the Council of Diplomatic Representative (CDR), which takes important financial and budgetary decisions. A common saying in all bodies, but also in Working and Experts’ Groups, is: nothing is agreed, until everything is agreed; and everything is agreed by consensus.[3]

This consensus-based approach to the multilateral work of the HCCH has been highly successful for the Organisation. It ensured that the development of private international law rules remained based on expertise and enjoys significant buy-in. But the HCCH is unlikely to be immune from the challenges to building consensus as experienced by other international organisations. Therefore, it will remain important for the HCCH to constantly review and, if necessary, to adapt its consensus-based approach to decision-making. This will be paramount so that the HCCH continues Asser’s vision that a peaceful and professional forum develops multilaterally unified private international law.

Final remarks

Overall, and despite some regions not yet as connected to the HCCH as they perhaps should be, the HCCH is now a global organisation for the unification of private international law. It is the world organisation for legal cooperation. It is 127 years old and going strong. The HCCH is highly relevant and important in an increasingly internationalised world. It is no doubt an organisation with a bright future. At a time when we are witnessing a pushback against multilateralism, the HCCH is an admirable example of the value of international cooperation and how international organisations can improve the day-to-day lives of people and enhance certainty and predictability for cross-border trade and commerce.

However, as the Companion makes apparent, while much has been done, more is required. The editors hope that the Companion will be a contribution to the understanding of the HCCH and the development of the Organisation as well as of private international law.

[1] A possible connection of the non-normative work of the HCCH is not a strategic priority of the HCCH per se but is mentioned in the Context to Strategic Priority 2. See HCCH, Strategic Plan of the HCCH 2019 – 2022 (2019) 5, <https://assets.hcch.net/docs/bb7129a9-abee-46c9-ab65-7da398e51856.pdf> accessed 30 April 2020.

[2] See Statute of the HCCH, Article 8(2) and Rules of Procedure of the HCCH, Rule II.H.3, available <https://www.hcch.net/en/governance/rules-of-procedure>.

[3] The Rules of Procedure of the HCCH have rules to support voting both at meetings, i.e. at Diplomatic Sessions, CGAP and CDR, as well as by distance. See Rules of Procedure of the HCCH, Rule II.H.4 and Rule II.I.6, available <https://www.hcch.net/en/governance/rules-of-procedure>. To the Editors’ knowledge, the HCCH has never taken a decision by vote at a meeting.