Adams v Cape Industries

To assist the parties and the public to follow the main lines of the court’s reasoning, the text is divided into 15 sections, as set out in the table of contents above. The table is hyperlinked to aid swift navigation.

This is a Part 8 application in the King’s Bench Division to recognise and enforce at common law two Russian judgments in personam. An unmistakably binary question arises: either the Russian judgments should be recognised and enforced or they should not.

The judgments were delivered by the Vsevolozhsky City Court (“the VCC”) on 24 January 2023 and the Leningrad Regional Court (“the LRC”) on 11 October 2023. From that simple statement, complexities multiply.

While the proceedings in this case have been aptly described by the parties as labyrinthine - conducted both here and in Russia at many different judicial tiers, involving appeals, cross-appeals, and re-hearings, and in different jurisdictional divisions, at times running in parallel - the essential facts are straightforward. They can be, at least at first, simply stated.

This is a dispute between a former husband and wife. They are both Russian nationals and are in dispute about a post-nuptial agreement (“PNA”). The husband seeks recognition and enforcement of the Russian courts’ judgments about the PNA that have (very broadly) been determined in his favour. The wife opposes recognition and enforcement. She seeks to impeach the VCC and LRC 2023 judgments (together “the impugned judgments” or “contested judgments”; the courts in 2023, “the impugned courts”).