JERSEY Law and Practice Contributed by: Amy Benest, William Redgrave, Jared Dann and Lynne Gregory, Baker & Partners
• Jersey Financial Services Commission Companies Registry – the Registry states details of the entity’s registered address and copies of certain filings, such as certificates of incorporate, memorandum and articles, copies of special resolutions. How - ever, beneficial ownership of legal entities is not available to the public, nor are up to date registers of directors. Accounts and financial statements are not publicly available. • Jersey Security Interests Register – where security cannot be taken by possession or control, security interests over intangible assets are registered and is publicly searchable. • Ships’ Registry – is available to be inspected in person. A current transcript of a vessel is available from the Registry for a fee which will confirm cur - rent ownership and whether a charge is registered against the vessel. • Litigation searches may be made to jgrlitigation - searches@courts.je or jgreffe@courts.je. The court will confirm whether a party has been involved in any court proceedings dating back to 2015. If the creditor establishes that a party has been involved in court proceedings, it can make a request to the court for copies of documents filed in those pro - ceedings. See Practice Direction 20/11. • Public notices required to be published by stat - ute, for example relating to insolvencies may be searched. • A list of désastre declarations is available via the Viscount of the Royal Court’s website. This lists all persons or companies whose assets have been declared en désastre (a form of bankruptcy for individuals and companies). Enquiry agents in Jersey may be instructed to carry out a lawful investigation to identify assets or further information and can prepare a report on their findings. 2. Domestic Judgments 2.1 Types of Domestic Judgments The following types of judgment are available in Jer - sey: • money awards;
• injunctive orders requiring or prohibiting specific action; and • declaratory relief. Money awards and injunctive orders determine par - ties’ rights and are directly enforceable in Jersey. Declaratory awards are typically declaratory of rights and so enforcement is not included in the relief. How - ever, if a person acts in a manner contrary to the dec - laration, the injured party may have a cause of action against that person. In Jersey, a claim is only formally initiated once the first procedural hearing takes place on a Friday before the Royal Court after service upon the defendant. The defendant to the action is summonsed to appear at that hearing to indicate whether they will defend the claim or submit to judgment or indicate that they will challenge the court’s jurisdiction. If a defendant does not appear, a plaintiff may seek default judgment. If the defendant submits to judgment, or does not appear, the process of obtaining a judgment for a sum of money which may be enforced can be very swift. Even where the defendant indicates that it will defend the action, in clear cases a plaintiff may seek summary judgment at an interlocutory stage of the proceedings (or the defendant may seek to strike out the claim) which would dispose of the claim. However, in most cases a judgment is usually obtained after a full trial on the merits. The length of time it will take for proceed - ings to get to full trial will depend upon the number of parties and complexity of issues in the proceedings. That said, depending upon the circumstances, an expedited timetable to trial can be obtained, for exam - ple if the relief sought is a standalone disclosure order post judgment. 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments Direct Enforcement A judgment for a money award from the Royal Court will usually include authority to sell or realise assets, or an arrest on wages. After an Act of Court confirm - ing the judgment of the Royal Court has been handed down, the judgment creditor will instruct the Viscount
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