Full Description
The Board of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council considered this case so important that it delivered its “advice” (The Privy Council “advises” the Monarch) notwithstanding the settlement after the hearing of the underlying dispute. It is important because the Board examined the previous apparently conflicting authority on the content and scope of the common law rule that a foreign default judgment is enforceable against a judgment debtor who has made a prior submission to the jurisdiction of that foreign court. It is of particular weight because the advice of the Board was given by Lord Collins, a distinguished scholar, practitioner and Judge – the first solicitor appointed directly from private practice to the English High Court; the first former solicitor appointed to the Court of Appeal; a Judge of the UK Supreme Court; and, very significantly, for just short of 30 years, the Editor of the leading text on Conflict of Laws, Dicey & Morris (now Dicey, Morris & Collins). Dr Anton Trichardt analyses the case. Simon Lee discusses the relevant statutory regimes in Australia, treaties and conventions.
