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Finality of Litigation

Preclusion and Foreign Judgments in English and Dutch Law, and a Suggested Approach
PhD ceremony:Mr J.B. van de Velden
When:July 03, 2014
Start:14:30
Supervisors:prof. mr. dr. M.H. (Mathijs) ten Wolde, prof. dr. L.W. (Laurence) Gormley, MA MSc
Where:Academy building RUG
Faculty:Law
Finality of Litigation

This thesis does three things: first, Part I clarifies by reference to English law (Chapter 1) and Dutch law (Chapter 2) how different legal systems implement the principle of finality of litigation—a process called ‘preclusion’; second, Part II rationalises the problem of preclusion between jurisdictions, by distinguishing two often conflated but fundamentally distinct problems: first, recognition of foreign judgments and, second, preclusion by foreign judgments (Chapter 3), and by analysing how English and Dutch courts resolve issues of preclusion raised by foreign judgments which are amenable to recognition (Chapter 4); and, finally, Part III evaluates the recent process of harmonisation of preclusion law at the EU level (Chapter 5) and suggests an approach to resolving the issues which arise upon recognition in case a foreign judgment is invoked for purposes of preclusion—to achieve finality of litigation locally after justice has been done abroad (Chapter 6).