GUERNSEY Law and Practice Contributed by: Elaine Gray and Steven Balmer, Carey Olsen
9.4 Enforcement Mechanisms of a Domestic Judgment Where a judgment has been obtained against a defendant, a plaintiff can enforce against wages or other assets such as bank accounts, boats or aero- planes. A plaintiff may also enforce against a defend- ant’s real property through a process known as saisie . 9.5 Enforcement of a Judgment From a Foreign Country There are two potential routes to enforcement of a foreign judgment: through common law and through a statutory regime. Under common law methods, a judgment creditor must sue on the judgment in the same way that a creditor would sue on a simple debt in Guernsey. It is unusual for a foreign judgment to be challenged. The only scope for doing so is where: • the foreign court had no jurisdiction; • the judgment was obtained through fraud; • the proceedings in the foreign court breached natural justice requirements; or • enforcement would be contrary to public policy in Guernsey. The statutory method is only available for a small num- ber of jurisdictions and provides a streamlined method for having such judgments recognised and enforced. The judgment must be of a superior court, be final and conclusive and be one the foreign court had jurisdic- tion to grant.
Appeals from the proceedings originating in the Royal Court go to the Guernsey Court of Appeal and from there to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. In addition to these appeal procedures, Guernsey also recognises judicial review as a remedy in respect of executive action and continues to recognise a cus- tomary law appellate device known as a requête civile . This is a specific procedure equivalent to an appli- cation to set aside a default judgment, and can be used where the challenge is not to the merits of the decision but for some other reason such as fraud or wrongdoing. 10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments There is a right of appeal from the Magistrate’s Court to the Royal Court and from there to the Court of Appeal in respect of a final decision and concerns a point of law or where the value of the claim exceeds GBP200. Otherwise, leave to appeal is required (for example, on consent orders and costs orders). No appeal can be brought against a decision of the Guernsey Court of Appeal without special leave of His Majesty in Council or of the Court of Appeal. Specific rules apply for appeals from the Court of Alderney and the Court of the Senechal in Sark. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal Magistrate’s Court to Royal Court The appellant must file a form of notice of appeal with the court within seven days of the decision being appealled. This should state the grounds of appeal and if the appeal is against all or only a part of the decision. Copies must be served on all parties affected within 48 hours of the notice being filed with the Greffe (court records). The respondent can apply for security for costs within seven days following receipt of the notice of appeal. The court can extend the relevant time limits, on whatever conditions justice requires. Royal Court to Court of Appeal The appellant has one month to file and serve their notice of appeal on all parties to the proceedings below who are directly affected by the appeal. Within seven days of the notice, the appellant must apply to set down the appeal by giving notice. The registrar
10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation
There are various levels of appeal depending on where proceedings originate. The Royal Court hears civil appeals from the Magistrate’s Court, legislative “judi- cial review”-type appeals under, for example, various regulatory and planning law regimes, appeals from the Court of Alderney and appeals from the Court of the Seneschal of Sark.
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