The Domestic Effect of External Decisions: Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards

Abstract

This volume asks whether a victory won in another adjudicative system can be realized against domestic assets. Recognition of a foreign judgment and an enforcement judgment, on the one hand, and recognition of an arbitral award and an enforcement decision, on the other, are different paths. Cross-border relief works only when re-adjudication of the merits is distinguished from review of the requirements for domestic effect. The path to relief opens where the applicable framework, the conditions for recognition, and domestic enforcement authorization for the foreign judgment or arbitral award are all in place, and closes where domestic enforcement authorization cannot be obtained because an essential requirement for recognition of the foreign judgment is absent or a statutory ground for refusing recognition of the arbitral award in question is established. The six sections address, in turn, the conditions for recognition of foreign judgments, opportunity to defend and public policy, the move from recognition to compulsory execution, the limits of damages judgments, the path for domestic arbitral awards, and the crossroads for foreign arbitral awards. The strongest counterargument is as follows. Deference to external decisions may leave the domestic party's right of defense and public policy insufficiently protected. Initial jurisdiction and choice of governing law in international cases, as well as international negotiation, are not addressed in this volume.