Enforcement of court judgments in the UK, the EU and Turkey after Brexit & enforcement strategy

For many years, commercial parties across the globe, and particularly in Europe, have preferred to enforce their English law-governed agreements, and resolve their disputes, in the courts of England. This combination has been selected for many good reasons, including: the independence and expertise of the English judiciary and the efficiency of the court process; and the existence of a solid body of law (including general contract law principles), applied by the courts with care and predictability.

Accordingly, parties can assess the legal effect of contractual terms in advance – a considerable contrast to a non-precedential system – and English law applied by the English courts generally gives effect to parties’ contractual bargain and admits limited scope for implied terms or influence by public policy changes. Indeed, as almost all the central principles of English contract law derive from English common law (rather than EU law), the advantages of English law remain after Brexit. Further, the validity and effectiveness of a contractual choice of English law, whether in England or in the EU member states is not affected by Brexit.

In an article co-authored with Turkish Law Firm Pekin Bayar Mizraihi and published on our firm's website, Craig Tevendale and Hannah Ambrose consider the position as to enforcement of English judgments in the UK, the EU and Turkey, and comment on the importance of an effective enforcement strategy. Click here to read the article.