Reciprocity Principle In The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Judgments

With the continuous deepening of China's opening policy and the rapid development of international trade and investment,international civil and commercial communications have become increasingly often.Civil and commercial disputes between different countries have emerged.It is more and more significant for China to solve problems arising in transnational civil or commercial disputes.Principle of Reciprocity plays an important role in international law,especially in international economical law.However,the principle of reciprocity is always in dispute when applicated in recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.The reason why the dispute arises is the conflict between sovereignty of the country and private interests of the people.As the large development of economy generally occurs in every country and states,communication and trade,as well as frictions happens among the countries become more often.Consequently,to ultimate the protection of the party's legal rights,there is increasing demands for recognition and enforcement of judgments.While during the process of the whole world,each country holds its own pace in the development of legislation practice.As a result,attitude towards recognition and enforcement in foreign judgments differs from one country to another.When we think of the principle of reciprocity itself,it not only causes sacrifice of private interest,but also influences foreign judgments' freely flowing among the countries.So far,reciprocity principle has been in criticisms.Based on the theory of reciprocity,this article tries to state the condition of application in the countries when facing the issue of recognizing and enforcing foreign judgments.After classification,the writer will make a comparison between China and other countries.In legislation,take civil procedure law,bankruptcy law and marriage law for reference,as well as strategy of B&R(shorted for “The Belt and Road”)and “Nanning Statement”;In practice,the writer does research in cases between China and other countries around like Japan and Singapore as well as countries in western countries like German and America.To solve the problem of“Prisoner's Dilemma” we have been trapped in,there is a long way for us to go.From the perspective of international law,using the method of comparison,the article takes the national conditions of our country and the status quo of the judiciary as the premise into consideration.By analyzing the reciprocity principle strictly applied in the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in China,it tries to find whether to retain or abolish reciprocity principle.Furthermore,if the principle is retained,we have to consider how to applicate it in a rather perfect way in order to do benefit for improvement of judiciary in China.First of all,it is too early for China to completely abandon the application of the principle of reciprocity;secondly,it is not appropriate to make too many changes in legislation.The scope of the application of the reciprocity principle,the criteria for identification,and the burden of proof,etc.,shall be regulated more clearly by our country.At the same time,Legislator must balance the matters between to ensure the integrity of the country's sovereignty and to ensure the integrity of the people's private rights so as to formulate judicial interpretations for the recognition and enforcement of foreign civil or commercial judgments;finally,in the judicial proceedings,we should moderately break the current state of the judiciary,strengthen the judicial dynamics,and give the judge discretion to ensure that the spirit of the“Nanning Statement” is conveyed and the “Belt and Road” strategy is put into effect.Instead of sticking to the past cases,we could explore appropriate measures and try to take the first step of “giving priority firstly”,so as to help China go out of the“Prisoner's Dilemma” on issues of foreign judgments' recognition and enforcement.Only in this way,can our country display the image of a great country while creating a harmonious and harmonious international environment for the peaceful rise of our country.