THE TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Stephen Wilson KC, Dominique Gardiner and Lovelie Luxama, Wilson Wells
9.4 Enforcement Mechanisms of a Domestic Judgment A judgment for a sum of money payable on a certain date may be enforced by several means, which are cumulative and not alternatives, and include: • a writ of seizure and sale – expressed in the gener- al form of a direction to the court-appointed bailiff to seize in execution such goods of the judgment debtor that may be sufficient to satisfy the amount of the judgment debt, together with interest and the costs of execution, including the bailiff’s costs and charges; • garnishee proceedings, whereby proceedings are issued against a third party who owes a debt to the judgment debtor – this can include money held by a financial institution for the judgment debtor; • a charging order, which creates a charge in favour of the judgment creditor over certain assets of the judgment debtor; • the appointment of a receiver by way of equitable execution; • the appointment of a liquidator; • an order for committal; and • a writ of sequestration. 9.5 Enforcement of a Judgment From a Foreign Country Although the laws of the Turks and Caicos Islands include the Overseas Judgments (Reciprocal Enforce- ment) Act (Chapter 4.01), which makes provision for the enforcement of foreign judgments in the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Governor has not issued any order extending the provisions of that Act to any overseas country other than the UK. As a result, the means by which a foreign judgment (other than one obtained in the UK) is enforced in the Turks and Caicos Islands is to issue fresh proceedings before the courts here suing on the foreign judgment and then to seek sum- mary judgment within the action on the basis that there is no defence to the claim. In the case of a judgment or order given or made by a court of the UK (or any other country to which the above-mentioned Act is later extended) 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 dam-
ages to an injured party, the person in whose favour the judgment was given may apply to the Supreme Court at any time within six years following 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 Supreme Court. Subject to proof of certain prescribed matters, the Supreme Court shall order the judgment to be reg- istered, and thereafter the registered judgment effec- tively stands as a judgment originally given in the reg- istering court and entered on the date of registration. Appeals against decisions, orders and judgments of the Magistrate’s Court and other tribunals and inferior courts (apart from the Labour Tribunal, appeals against which are made directly to the Court of Appeal) are made to the Supreme Court. Decisions, orders and judgments of the Supreme Court may be appealed to the Court of Appeal, provided leave to appeal has been obtained if it is required. From the Court of Appeal, an appeal lies in certain circumstances (set out in 1.2 Court System ) to His Majesty in Council. There is also the right to apply for judicial review, by which the Supreme Court exercises its supervisory jurisdiction over the proceedings and decisions of inferior courts, tribunals or other persons or bodies that perform public duties or functions. 10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation 10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments The rules concerning appeals from the Magistrate’s Court to the Supreme Court are set out in Part XIV of the Magistrate’s Court Act (Chapter 2.03) and, in the case of appeals from decisions of the Magistrate’s Court exercising its civil jurisdiction, in Order 55 of the Rules of the Supreme Court. The latter also deals with every other appeal that, by or under an enactment, lies to the Supreme Court from any court, tribunal or person (other than an appeal from the Magistrate’s Court in a criminal matter).
1138 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook