MASRI V CONSOLIDATED CONTRACTORS' INTERNATIONAL CO SAL

[2009] UKHL 43, House of Lords, Lord Scott, Lord Rodger, Lord Walker, Lord Brown and Lord Mance, 30 July 2009

Conflict of laws - Judgment debt - Whether judgment debtor's officer domiciled outside the jurisdiction could be examined - Civil Procedure Rules, Part 71

M was owed a judgment debt of US$64 million by CCIC, a Lebanese company. K, the controller of CCIC was domiciled in Greece. The question was whether M could obtain an order from the English court for K to be examined as an officer of CCIC under CPR 71, which provides that a judgment creditor may obtain an order requiring an officer of a judgment creditor to attend court. The House of Lords held that the authority under which the Civil Procedure Rules had been made, section 1 of the Civil Procedure Act 1997, conferred the power to make rules with extraterritorial effect, but that CPR 71 did not extend to officers abroad.