High Court decides that enforcement in a foreign jurisdiction cannot be effected against an Australian bankrupt

Earlier this month, the High Court of Australia unanimously decided that a judgment creditor cannot apply for a certificate to effect enforcement overseas in circumstances where the judgment debtor is bankrupt.

THE BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

In March 1992, several properties in central Prague, which had been seized by and vested in the state of Czechoslovakia after World War Two, were restored to one Jan Emil (the son of the owners of the properties), who resided in Melbourne, Australia.

In 1998, Jan Emil's sister and the children of his deceased brother sought equitable relief in the Supreme Court of Victoria on the basis that it had been agreed that the three siblings would share equally in the benefit of the restored properties.