Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982

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Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 – plain language summary

The Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 is a UK law passed on 13 July 1982. It was designed to put into UK law the rules about cross-border civil cases and how judgments from the UK or other countries can be recognized and enforced.

What the Act does
- It implements the Brussels Convention of 1968, which sets rules about which courts can hear cases involving defendants in other contracting states.
- It creates a framework for deciding which UK courts (England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland) have jurisdiction in cross-border civil cases.
- It establishes how judgments given in the UK or in other contracting states can be recognised and enforced elsewhere.

Gibraltar special case
- The 1982 Act did not initially cover Gibraltar. In 1997, an order treated Gibraltar as a separate contracting state for the purposes of the Act.

Key later changes
- 1991: The Lugano Convention was incorporated, allowing UK courts to apply Lugano rules in cross-border cases with other participating countries.
- 2001: An order extended jurisdiction to align with Council Regulation (EC) 44/2001 (the Brussels Regulation), which applies across the then-27 European Union member states.

Original contracting states under the Brussels Convention (as of 1982)
- Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands.

Current status
- The Act has been amended over time and remains a core part of how cross-border civil cases are handled in the UK.