Introduction

The rules on the recognition of judgments contained in the Brussels I Regulation apply only to judgments from other EC States. Similar rules in the Lugano Convention extend the system to the Lugano States. The recognition of judgments not covered by either of these two instruments depends on Member State law. We shall consider the English rules in the next chapter. In this chapter, therefore, we are considering only the recognition and enforcement of judgments from EC and Lugano States. The discussion that follows will be framed in terms of the Brussels I Regulation and the Member States of the European Community; however, it should be understood that, in almost all cases, these provisions apply also to the Lugano States.

Since the Brussels I Regulation lays down a system of detailed jurisdictional rules which is generally quite restrained, it might seem reasonable for it to provide that judgments from other Member States must be recognized without any further jurisdictional test. There is, however, a problem. As we saw in Chapter 3, the EC rules on jurisdiction apply, in general, only where the defendant is domiciled in another EC State. Where the defendant is not so domiciled, each Member State is entitled to apply its own rules of jurisdiction. Some of these rules are exorbitant in the extreme. In spite of this, the principle of recognition without a jurisdictional test applies to these judgments as well.