Under U.S. law, an individual seeking to enforce a foreign judgment, decree or order in this country must file suit before a competent court. The court will determine whether to recognize and enforce the foreign judgment.
A foreign judgment passed by a court of a non-reciprocating country can only be enforced by filing a new suit in India where the foreign decree is merely a piece of evidence with persuasive value. Therefore, the judgment debtor can raise the claim of res judicata and stay the suit at the preliminary stage.
The Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (UEFJA) provides a simplified way of enforcing judgments entered in another state, implementing full faith and credit.
A foreign judgment is defined under section 2 (6) of the CPC as a judgment of a foreign court. A foreign court, under section 2(5) of CPC, means a court situated outside India and not established or continued by the authority of the Central Government.
A foreign judgment shall be conclusive as to any matter thereby directly adjudicated upon between the same parties or between parties under whom they or any of them claim litigating under the same title except- (a) where it has not been pronounced by a Court of competent jurisdiction; (b) where it has not been given on
All foreign judgments have to be recognized before they can be enforced. However, in certain circumstances (for example, for the purposes of a res judicata argument), it may be sufficient to recognize a judgment without enforcing it. In order to enforce a judgment, the Canadian court must first recognize it.
Foreign judgments cannot be enforced in the US before they are recognized. Rather, recognition and enforcement is governed by individual state laws. Even if a case is brought in federal court, that court will apply relevant state law in reaching its decision.
Grounds of rejection of the plaint. A plaint can be rejected by the Court if it does not mention a cause of action which is to be taken by the plaintiff against the respondent. It is perceived as an abuse of the process of the Court. Without a cause of action, a civil suit cannot arise.
“Reciprocating territory” means any country or territory outside India which the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be a reciprocating territory; and “superior Courts”, with reference to any such territory, means such Courts as may be specified in the said notification.”
further stated that Canada is included in the list of reciprocating territory, as envisaged in Explanation I to Sec. 44A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
General Principle of Law (Section 13 CPC). A foreign divorce decree is recognized and is considered final and valid in courts in India, unless the decree is legally flawed under general and divorce laws.
