Brazilian Superior Court of Justice recognized and enforced a judicial award originated in the UK. The UK Court issued a divorce ruling in favor of a Brazilian that was married to a British citizen.
The matter discussed before the Brazilian Superior Court was the potential voidance of the citation of the former husband that took place in the UK.
According to Brazilian law, the citation has to be delivered in person. However, the UK Courts followed UK procedural law, delivering the citation via mail.
The Superior Court Ministers ruled that, procedural acts that take place in a foreign jurisdiction may follow local procedural law. Hence, the claim for voidance was overruled and the UK award was recognized and granted enforceability in Brazilian Jurisdiction.
The decision was unanimous and followed the reporting Minister Humberto Martins, according to whom all citation procedural acts executed in a foreign jurisdiction may follow local procedural law. He also concluded that such procedural differences should not become an obstacle for the recognition and enforcement of a foreign judicial award.
This precedent may be used in several other cases where a foreign award needs to be recognized and enforced in Brazil.
Also, it is fair to point out that this decision represents the outstanding quality of rulings, regarding international law, that have been recently issued by the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice.
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