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Introduction:

The extent to which foreign decisions are decisive in India is covered by Section 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. When we refer to "foreign judgements," we mean decisions made by courts that are located outside of India's borders and over which the central government has no control.

According to Section 13, a foreign decision is conclusive—that is, final and binding—as to any matter that is directly decided between the same parties, or between parties who claim to be involved in a dispute under the same title, or between any of them. However, sections (a) to (f) of that section list six exceptions to the conclusiveness of a foreign judgment. Therefore, in order for a judgment to be considered to have binding effect, it must satisfy all six of the exceptions listed above: it must have been rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction; it must have been rendered according to the merits of the case; it must be based on a correct understanding of international law or Indian law, as applicable; the proceedings in which it was rendered must have been in consonance with the principles of natural justice; and it must not have been obtained by fraud or through any breach of Indian law.

It is also crucial to remember that the rules established by Section 13 are substantive laws, not just procedural ones. This provision incorporates the principles of private international law, according to which a decision rendered by a competent foreign court may be upheld by an Indian court and serve as res judicata.

The article will throw some light upon the purview of Section 13 wrt to the latest Indian judgment.

1. S. Rawail Singh & Others vs. Gurinder Jeet Kour CrlM 1281/2019: 

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court recently ruled that “Once a marriage stands validly dissolved by a competent foreign court, the "domestic relationship" between the parties as husband and wife, which is necessary to invoke the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, also ceases”. The court further said that “the judgment/decree of divorce passed by the District Court Wisman, Germany whereby the marriage has been dissolved is conclusive and binding upon the parties”. Now since the parties do not have any domestic relationship between them hence the provisions related to the domestic violence act cannot be invoked.

2. Rupak Rathi vs. Anita Chaudhary, Civil Revision No.3130 of 2013(O&M):

The divorce petition filed by the wife on grounds of cruelty was barred by the principles of both res judicata and estoppel and the learned District Judge, Panchkula had no jurisdiction to entertain the divorce petition as the matter inter-parties stood settled by the English decree. Therefore the ratio laid down is that any judgment passed by a court of another country in a matrimonial dispute would not be considered conclusive in relation to the same matrimonial dispute before pending before any Indian Court.

Conclusiveness of Foreign Judgments:

A foreign ruling is conclusive and will serve as res-judicata between the parties and privies, even though they are not strangers, as was already mentioned. A foreign judgment may be assessed from the perspective of competence, but not from the perspective of errors, as is well-established. The Indian courts do not need that a foreign court's conclusions be accurate or its findings be tenable in any other way when determining whether a judgment is decisive. In other words, subject to the exceptions listed in clauses (a) to (f) of Section 13, the court shall be conclusive as to any matter thereby directly adjudicated between the same parties and cannot address the merits of the initial claim.

Enforcement of Foreign Decree:

The foreign judgements can be enforced in India in the following ways:

1. Institution of Suit:

A suit on such foreign judgment may be brought in order to enforce a foreign verdict. The basic rule of law is that unless a foreign court, tribunal, or quasi-judicial authority's decision is included in a decree issued by a court within that nation, it cannot be enforced there. The court cannot address the merits of the initial claim in such a case, and the decision is final with regard to any issue that was decided directly between the parties. Such a lawsuit must be brought within three years after the judgment's date.

2. Execution Proceedings:

In some specific circumstances listed in Section 44-A of the Code, a foreign judgment may also be implemented through execution proceedings. According to the aforementioned clause, a district court may execute a judgment in India as if the district court had issued it when a certified copy of the judgment from one of the superior courts of a reciprocating territory has been filed with the district court. The judgment-debtor will have the opportunity to raise any objections that would have been permissible under Section 13 if a lawsuit had been brought based on the foreign judgment when it is sought to be executed under Section 44-A.