Foreign Judgments In Guernsey: Has Reciprocal Enforcement Had Its Day?

The Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) (Guernsey) Law, 1957 was intended to provide a simpler way of enforcing certain foreign judgments. It allows judgments from specified courts in jurisdictions with reciprocal arrangements to be registered and enforced in Guernsey, rather than requiring creditors to bring fresh proceedings to recover the debt.

Nearly seventy years later, however, it is worth asking whether the reciprocal enforcement procedure still offers creditors a meaningful advantage. The question has acquired fresh relevance following the UK Supreme Court’s decision in Drelle v Servis-Terminal LLC [2026] UKSC 29. Although concerned with the use of a foreign judgment debt in bankruptcy proceedings, the Court observed that statutory registration carries “substantial procedural advantages” over recognition proceedings. That may be true in England, but does the same assumption hold good in Guernsey?