The Proposed Draft Text on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments forms an integral part of the ambitious Judgments Project of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. In particular, this instrument endeavours to foster predictability and certainty in international commercial relations by enabling litigants to be accurately informed in advance of the circumstances in which the decision of the court of one contracting state will be recognized or enforced in the territory of another. The endorsement of the Draft Judgments Convention could accordingly prove advantageous to countries like South Africa, whose private international law on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments seems archaic and confined to a narrow set of precepts. This article identifies the loopholes in the country's policy and practice on the subject, and demonstrates the manner in which the Draft Judgments Convention could plausibly address these lacunae.

This article investigates what effects a recognized foreign judgment in civil and commercial matters has in English proceedings. Does the judgment have the effects that it has in the foreign country (extension of effects) or the effects that a comparable English judgment would have (equalization of effects), or a combination of these? After a review of the current law, it will be discussed what approach is preferable on principle. The suggested approach will then be illustrated by considering whether a foreign decision on one legal basis of a certain claim ought to preclude English proceedings involving another legal basis of the same claim. Finally, it will be discussed whether and how the effects of a recognized foreign judgment in England are affected by interests of a third country.