The idea of a European Judicial Area has gathered force since the negotiation of the Amsterdam Treaty amending the TEU and conferring competence on the European Community in relation to measures of "judicial cooperation". One of the areas targeted for rapid attention is improvement in the recognition and enforcement of civil judgments in Europe - with plans for the mutual recognition of judgments.

The volume addresses the enforcement of judgments and other authentic instruments in a European cross-border context, as well as enforcement in a selection of national European jurisdictions.

The present book offers the reader insight into how the Court of Justice of the European Communities justifies its interpretations of the European legal rules on international jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. Our examination of the more than one hundred decisions which the Court has delivered under the 1968 Brussels Convention shows that the Court uses the principles, which in its opinion underlie the explicit rules, as reasons to justify its decisions. These principles are described in the book and it is shown how they relate to each other. The system of principles that has been identified in this study forms an important part of the Brussels Convention’s legacy for the new Regulation No. 44/2001, which replaced the Convention on March 1, 2002. It constitutes a catalogue of arguments that will be employed by the Court to justify its interpretation of the provisions of the new regulation. As such, this book will be of great value to practitioners in international law as well as to academics and students alike. Jannet A. Pontier (Ph.D.) Edwige Burg (Ph.D.) Professor of Law Lecturer and researcher Department of Private International Law Department of Private International Law Senior Research Associate at the Research Associate at the Amsterdam Institute for Private Law Amsterdam Institute for Private Law University of Amsterdam University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, The Netherlands, January 2004 VII TABLE OF CONTENTS

This title was first published in 2002: Within Europe and beyond, foreign judgement enforcement is now an essential component for the development of international commerce. This indispensable volume traces and analyzes steps and procedures for the enforcement of foreign judgements in national courts, including summarizing the principles which are the preconditions for that enforcement.

This book examines the attainment of complete free movement of civil judgments across EU member states from the perspective of its conformity with the fundamental right to a fair trial. In the integrated legal order of the European Union, it is essential that litigants can rely on a judgment no matter where in the EU it was delivered. Effective mechanisms for cross-border recognition and the enforcement of judgments provide both debtors and creditors with the security that their rights, including their right to a fair trial, will be protected. In recent years the attainment of complete free movement of civil judgments, through simplification or abolition of these mechanisms, has become a priority for the European legislator. The text uniquely combines a thorough discussion of EU legislation with an in-depth and critical examination of its interplay with fundamental rights. It contains an over-view and comparison of both ECtHR and CJEU case law on the right to a fair trial, and provides a great number of specific recommendations for current and future legislation. With its critical discussion of EU Regulations from both a practical and a theoretical standpoint, this book is particularly relevant to legislators and policymakers working in this field. Because of the extensive overview of the functioning of the EU’s mechanisms and of relevant case law it provides, the book is also highly relevant to academics and practitioners. Monique Hazelhorst is Judicial Assistant at the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. She studied Law and Legal Research at Utrecht University and holds a Ph.D. in Law from the Erasmus School of Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

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For international lawyers, the European rules on jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters are of great practical importance. Since March 2002, these rules have been laid down in an EU Regulation (44/2001) which essentially replaced the 1968 Brussels Convention. The preliminary considerations to the Regulation imply that the decisions in which the Court of Justice of the EC has interpreted the Brussels Convention remain relevant for the interpretation of the Regulation. Hence, in order to have a thorough understanding of the Regulation, an in-depth knowledge of the EC Court’s case law regarding the Brussels Convention is imperative. The present study is based on an analysis of more than one hundred decisions that the Court has delivered under the Brussels Convention. It appears that the significance of the Court’s case law lies not only in the final outcome of these decisions, but also in the principles that the Court consistently refers to in arriving at its decisions. The authors piece together the system of principles that has become apparent in the Court’s reasoning. An understanding of this system not only sheds light on how and why the Court has reached its past decisions, but it also enables lawyers to understand the confines within which the Court’s argumentation is likely to take place in future cases under the Regulation. A publication which focuses on the principles used by the Court to justify its decisions in this particular area of law, has been lacking. This book aims to fill that gap. Its value extends beyond the academic realm and into the field of legal practice.

An important provision of the European Convention on Human Rights is that in the event of a violation being found, not only is the state in question required to redress the consequences of the violation vis-á-vis the applicant - by such means as reopening of proceedings at the origin of the violation, reversal of a judicial verdict, discontinuation of expulsion proceedings or, where necessary, payment of a monetary award to the applicant; but it must also take general measures to prevent the repetition of the violation. These latter measures may take the form, for example, of a change in legislation, recognition of the Court's judgment in national case-law, the appointment of extra judges or magistrates to absorb a backlog of cases, the construction of detention centres suitable for juvenile delinquents, the introduction of training for the police, or other similar steps. This second edition continues to examine both individual measures and general measures taken by states in accordance with the Court's judgments and with the supervisory proceedings of the Committee of Ministers, as published in its human rights (DH) resolutions.

Presents a new approach to prominent judgments of the European Court of Justice drawing on the writings of Judge Robert Lecourt.