ABSTRACT
A claimant who has obtained a final judgment from the English High Court or a final English arbitration award will be able to enforce it against assets of the defendant within the jurisdiction in accordance with the provisions of RSC Orders 45 and 46 which are retained in Sched 1 to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR).1 Enforcement in foreign jurisdictions will depend upon the existence of reciprocal arrangements between that country and the UK relating to the mutual recognition of and enforcement of judgments. Where enforcement is sought before the courts of another Member State under the Judgments Regulation the matter is governed by Chapter III thereof. Where enforcement is sought in a state which is not a Member State under the Judgments Regulation, the matter is governed either by the Administration of Justice Act 1920 or the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933.2 Where the claimant seeks to enforce an English arbitration award abroad, the matter is governed by the New York Convention 1958, whose provisions are implemented by the Arbitration Act 1996.3
However, the above provisions will be of no use to a claimant if the defendant no longer has any assets by the time at which a judgment or arbitration award comes to be enforced. To avoid ending up with such a ‘pyrrhic’ victory, a claimant will need to invoke the jurisdiction of the English courts for the purposes of securing its claim prior to the substantive hearing of that claim. It can do this in one of two ways. It can invoke the in rem jurisdiction of the Admiralty court to arrest the defendant’s vessel or cargo within the territorial waters of England and Wales. Alternatively, it can invoke the in personam jurisdiction of the Commercial Court to obtain a ‘freezing order’, formerly known as a ‘Mareva injunction’, restricting the defendant from disposing of its assets pending a final judgment or arbitration award in the matter. Both procedures are available to a claimant even when the substantive dispute is referred to arbitration or should be heard by a foreign court.
