Provisions under CPC on Foreign Courts & Foreign Judgements:
1. “Foreign Court means a Court situate outside India and not established or continued by the authority of the Central Government” .
2. “Foreign Judgment means the judgment of a foreign Court” .
3. “When foreign judgment not conclusive:
∙ Where it’s not been pronounced by a Court of competent jurisdiction.
∙ Where it’s not been given on the merits of the case.
∙ Where it appears on the face of the proceedings to be founded on an incorrect view of law of nations or a refusal to acknowledge the law of India in cases during which law is applicable.
∙ Where the proceedings during which the judgment was obtained are against the natural justice.
∙ Where it’s been obtained by fraud.
∙ Where it sustains a claim founded on a breach of any law effective in India” .
4. “Presumptions on foreign judgments: The Court shall presume, upon the assembly of any document purporting to be a licensed copy of a foreign/international judgment, that such judgment was pronounced by a Court to competent jurisdiction, unless the contrary appears on the record; but such presumption could also be displaced by proving want of jurisdiction” .
5. “Execution of decrees gone by Revenue Courts in places to which this Code doesn’t extend: The Government of State may, by notification within the Official Gazette, declare that the decrees of any Revenue Court in any territory of India of which the provisions of this Code don’t extend, or any class of such decrees, could also be executed within the State as if they had been executed by the courts in therein State” .
6. “Execution of decrees executed by Courts in reciprocating territory:
∙ Where a licensed copy of a decree of any of the superior courts of any reciprocating territory has been filed within a District Court, the decree could also be executed in India as if it had been executed by the District Court.
∙ Alongside with the certified copy of the decree shall be filed a certificate from such court stating the extent, if any, to which the decree has been satisfied or adjusted and such certificate shall, for the needs of proceedings under this section, be conclusive proof of the extent of such satisfaction or adjustment.
∙ “Reciprocating territory” means any country or territory outside India which the Central Government may, by notification within the Official Gazette, declare to be a reciprocating territory for the needs of this section.
∙ “Superior Courts” with regards to any such territory, means such courts as could also be laid out in the said notification.
∙ “Decree” with regard to a Court means any decree or judgment of such court under which a sum of monetary transactions is payable, not being a sum payable in respect of taxes or other charges of a like nature or in respect of a fine or other penalty, but shall in no case include an arbitration award, albeit such an compensation is enforceable as a decree or judgment” .
References:
1. Civil Procedure Code 1908, Sec 2(5).
2. Civil Procedure Code 1908, Sec 2(6).
3. Civil Procedure Code 1908, Sec 13.
4. Civil Procedure Code 1908, Sec 14
5. Civil Procedure Code 1908, Sec 44.
6. Civil Procedure Code 1908, Sec 44A.
About the Author:-
This Article has been written by Aryan Sinha, 5th Year law (BBA+LLB(H) student at Galgotias University, Greater Noida.
