The 2019 Hague Judgments Convention: Perspectives from the United States and Canada

Abstract

This co-authored article by two distinguished private international law scholars offers perspectives from the United States and Canada on the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention. The article will eventually appear as a chapter in a larger book project that will address the most important aspects of the Convention in many different regions of the world. The book is entitled “The HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention: Cornerstones, Prospects, Outlook”. The project will culminate in an international conference organized by the Hague Conference on Private International Law and the University of Bonn, now postponed until 9-10 June, 2023.

Asked to provide a “North American” view of the Convention, the authors explain that although both the United States and Canada share the tradition of a federal system and both have generous national regimes for recognizing and enforcing foreign judgments, the interests in and reactions to the Convention in each country are slightly different. The authors first discuss the perspective of each country in relation to the Convention’s impact on outgoing judgments. They then turn to the subject of incoming judgments and the compatibility of existing law with the Convention in the respective countries. The chapter concludes with observations about the prospects of ratification of the Convention in each country.