Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act

Section Interpretation Section In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— “ appeal ” includes any proceeding by way of discharging or setting aside of a judgment or an application for a new trial or a stay of execution; “ country of the original court ” means the country in which the original court is situated; “ judgment ” means a judgment or order given or made by a court in any civil proceedings, or a judgment or order given or made by a court in any criminal proceedings for the payment of a sum of money in respect of compensation or damages to an injured party; “ judgment creditor ” means the person in whose favour the judgment was given, and includes any person in whom the rights under the judgment have become vested by succession or assignment or otherwise; “ judgment debtor ” means the person against whom the judgment was given, and includes any person against whom the judgment is enforceable under the law of the original court ; “ judgments given in the superior courts of Uganda ” means judgments given in the High Court, and includes judgments given in any courts on appeals against any judgments so given; “ original court ” in relation to any judgment means the cou...

Section Power to extend this Part of the Act to foreign countries giving reciprocal treatment Section The Minister, if he or she is satisfied that, in the event of the benefits conferred by this Part of the Act being extended to judgments given in the superior courts of any foreign country, substantial reciprocity of treatment will be assured as respects the enforcement in that foreign country of judgments given in the superior courts of Uganda , may by statutory order direct— Any judgment of a superior court of a foreign country to which this Part of the Act extends, other than a judgment of such a court given on appeal from a court which is not a superior court, shall be a judgment to which this Part of the Act applies, if— that this Part of the Act shall extend to that foreign country; and that such courts of that foreign country as are specified in the order shall be deemed superior courts of that country for the purposes of this Part. it is final and conclusive as between the parties to the judgment ; and there is payable under the judgment a sum of money, not being a sum payable in respect of taxes or other charges of a like nature or in respect of a fine or other penalty; an...

Section Application for, and effect of, registration of foreign judgments Section A person, being a judgment creditor under a judgment to which this Part of the Act applies, may apply to the High Court at any time within six years after the date of the judgment or, where there have been proceedings by way of appeal against the judgment , after the date of the last judgment given in those proceedings, to have the judgment registered in the High Court, and on any such application the court shall, subject to proof of the prescribed matters and to the other provisions of this Act, order the judgment to be registered, except that a judgment shall not be registered if at the date of the application— Subject to the provisions of this Act with respect to the setting aside of registration — it has been wholly satisfied; or it could not be enforced by execution in the country of the original court . a registered judgment shall, for the purposes of execution, be of the same force and effect; proceedings may be taken on a registered judgment ; the sum for which a judgment is registered shall carry interest; and the registering court shall have the same control over the execution of a registere...

Section Rules of court Section Subject to this section, the Chief Justice may make rules of court for the following purposes— making provision with respect to the giving of security for costs by persons applying for the registration of judgments; prescribing the matters to be proved on an application for the registration of ajudgment and for regulating the mode of proving those matters; providing for the service on the judgment debtor of notice of the registration of a judgment ; making provision with respect to the fixing of the period within which an application may be made to have the registration of the judgment set aside and with respect to the extension of the period so fixed; prescribing the method by which any question arising under this Act whether a foreign judgment can be enforced by execution in the country of the original court , or what interest is payable under a foreign judgment under the law of the original court , is to be determined; prescribing any matter, other than a fee, which under the provisions of this Act is to be prescribed . Rules of court made under this section shall be expressed to have, and shall have, effect subject to any such provisions contained...

Section Cases in which registered judgments must, or may, be set aside Section On an application in that behalf duly made by any party against whom a registered judgment may be enforced, the registration of the judgment — shall be set aside if the registering court is satisfied— For the purposes of this section, the courts of the country of the original court shall, subject to subsection (3) , be deemed to have had jurisdiction— in the case of a judgment given in an action in personam— Notwithstanding anything in subsection (2) , the courts of the country of the original court shall not be deemed to have had jurisdiction— that the judgment is not a judgment to which this Part of this Act applies or was registered in contravention of the foregoing provisions of this Act; that the courts of the country of the original court had no jurisdiction in the circumstances of the case; that the judgment debtor , being the defendant in the proceedings in the original court , did not (notwithstanding that process may have been duly served on him or her in accordance with the law of the country of the original court ) receive notice of those proceedings in sufficient time to enable him or her to...

Section Powers of registering court on application to set aside registration Section If, on an application to set aside the registration of a judgment , he applicant satisfies the registering court either that an appeal is pending, or that he or she is entitled and intends to appeal against the judgment , the court, if it thinks fit, may, on such terms as it may think just, either set aside the registration or adjourn the application to set aside the registration until after the expiration of such period as appears to the court to be reasonably sufficient to enable the applicant to take the necessary steps to have the appeal disposed of by the competent tribunal. Where the registration of a judgment is set aside under subsection (1) , or solely for the reason that the judgment was not at the date of the application for registration enforceable by execution in the country of the original court , the setting aside of the registration shall not prejudice a further application to register the judgment when the appeal has been disposed of or if and when the judgment becomes enforceable by execution in that country, as the case may be. Where the registration of a judgment is set aside so...

Section Foreign judgments which can be registered not to be enforceable otherwise Section No proceedings for the recovery of a sum payable under a foreign judgment , being a judgment to which this Part of this Act applies, other than proceedings by way of registration of the judgment , shall be entertained by any court in Uganda.

Section Application to Commonwealth Section If the territory to which a specific application order relates is a territory to which the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act extended immediately before the coming into operation of the general application order, then, on the coming into operation of the specific application order— this Part of the Act shall have effect in relation to that territory as if— The Minister may by statutory order, in this section referred to as a general application order, direct that this Part of the Act shall apply to the territories of the Commonwealth and to judgments obtained in the courts of those territories as it applies to foreign countries and, if the Minister so directs, this Act shall have effect accordingly and the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act shall cease to have effect except in relation to those territories of the Commonwealth to which it extended immediately before the coming into operation of the general application order. If at any time after a general application order has been made, an order, in this section referred to as a specific application order, is made under section 2 extending the provisions of this Part of the Act...

Section Power to make foreign judgments unenforceable in Uganda if no reciprocity Section If it appears to the Minister that the treatment in respect of recognition and enforcement accorded by the courts of any foreign country to judgments given in the superior courts of Uganda is substantially less favourable than that accorded by the courts of Uganda to judgments of the superior courts of that country, the Minister may, by statutory order apply this section to that country. Except insofar as the Minister may, by statutory order under this section otherwise direct, no proceedings shall be entertained in any court in Uganda for the recovery of any sum alleged to be payable under a judgment given in a court of a country to which this section applies. The Minister may, by a subsequent statutory order, vary or revoke any order previously made under this section.

Section Issue of certificates of judgments obtained in Uganda Section Where a judgment under which a sum of money is payable, not being a sum payable in respect of taxes or other charges of a like nature or in respect of a fine or other penalty, has been entered in the High Court against any person and the judgment creditor is desirous of enforcing the judgment in a country or territory to which Part II of this Act applies, the court shall, on an application made by the judgment creditor and on payment of such fee as may be prescribed , issue to the judgment creditor a certified copy of the judgment , together with a certificate containing such particulars with respect to the action, including the causes of action, and the rate of interest, if any, payable on the sum payable under the judgment , as may be prescribed , but where execution of a judgment is stayed for any period pending an appeal or for any other reason, an application shall not be made under this section with respect to the judgment until the expiration of that period.

Section Application of Judgments Extension Act Section Nothing in this Act shall prejudice or affect the operation of the Judgments Extension Act.

Section General effect of certain foreign judgments Section This section shall not apply in the case of any judgment — where the judgment has been registered and the registration of the judgment has been set aside on some ground other than— Subject to this section, a judgment to which Part II of this Act applies or would have applied if a sum of money had been payable under the judgment , whether it can be registered or not, and whether, if it can be registered, it is registered or not, shall be recognised in any court in Uganda as conclusive between the parties to the judgment in all proceedings founded on the same cause of action and may be relied on by way of defence or counterclaim in any such proceedings. that a sum of money was not payable under the judgment ; that the judgment had been wholly or partly satisfied; or that at the date of the application the judgment could not be enforced by execution in the country of the original court ; or where the judgment has not been registered, and it is shown (whether it could have been registered or not) that, if it had been registered, the registration of the judgment would have been set aside on an application for that purpose on so...