Below is a brief insight on the law and procedure
relating to the enforcement of foreign judgments in Mauritius.
In Mauritius, there are 3
pieces of legislation which govern enforcement of foreign judgments, namely:-
1. Article 546 of the Code de Procedure Civile, for the enforcement of judgments originating from countries other than the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Countries;
2. The Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act 1923, for
enforcement of UK judgments; and
3. The Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act
1961, for the enforcement of Commonwealth judgments.
The procedure to be followed
for enforcing a foreign judgment will therefore depend on the country from
which the judgment originated and there are specific conditions to be fulfilled
in each case.
However, generally, an
applicant wishing to enforce a foreign judgment will have to enter an action
before the Supreme Court of Mauritius, for leave of a Judge to the foreign
judgment registered in the Register of Foreign Judgments kept at the Registry
of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court on receipt of such an application, fix
the time limit (a maximum of two months) within which the respondent should apply
to set aside the application for registration. If no such application is made
within the time limit, the Judge will order the registration of the Judgment
and it will be declared executor in Mauritius.
Nothing
in this article shall be construed as legal advice from the author. Professional advice should therefore be sought before any action is
undertaken based on this article. You are kindly advised to contact the author for more detailed and personalised legal advice.
