Enforcing Arbitral Awards in Common Law Offshore Holding Jurisdictions
Enforcing foreign arbitral awards in common law offshore jurisdictions requires statutory summary recognition, interim freezing orders, and equity charging remedies.
Common Law Judgment Conversion
Meaning
Foreign judgments from jurisdictions without reciprocal enforcement treaties must be sued upon as fresh debts to become enforceable locally. This mechanism, known as common law judgment conversion, requires the judgment creditor to initiate a new lawsuit where the foreign judgment itself is treated as the cause of action. The foreign court must have possessed competent jurisdiction over the defendant according to local conflict of laws rules.
Once the local court enters a new judgment, the creditor can proceed with standard asset seizure remedies.
Actionable Debt
The foreign judgment must represent a final and conclusive monetary sum to qualify for this process. In a common law judgment conversion, the original dispute is not re-examined on its merits. Instead, the legal obligation of the debtor to pay the sum awarded is the central issue.
Procedural Execution
Creditors usually seek summary judgment to expedite the domestic recognition process. In the context of common law judgment conversion, the absence of a genuine defense on the merits of the foreign judgment allows the court to resolve the matter without a full trial. This speeds up the path to domestic execution.
Defense Standard
Defendants can resist the domestic action only on very narrow grounds. During a common law judgment conversion, challenges are confined to allegations of fraud in obtaining the foreign judgment or violations of natural justice in the foreign proceedings. These narrow limits prevent the debtor from relitigating the original dispute.