Some interesting legal issues arise in relation to the claims
made by Virginia Giuffre against the Duke of York.
I do not propose to examine the merits or otherwise of the
claim, but will confine myself to legal issues relating to
jurisdiction and procedure.
Has the Duke of York been served? That depends upon a detailed
examination of the facts as to who did what and on whose
instructions. For example, personal service may or may not have
been effected (it depends on the facts), but if the process server
was not instructed by an English solicitor, the service will have
been invalid. This is due to a letter written in 1980 from the
Senior Master of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court,
to assist in interpretation of Article 10(c) of the Hague
Convention Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents
in Civil or Commercial Matters. The letter states,
