R C F Vanquelin v Bouard

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date19 November 1863
Date19 November 1863
CourtCourt of Common Pleas

English Reports Citation: 143 E.R. 817

IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS AND IN THE EXCHEQUER CHAMBER

R. C. F. Vanquelin
and
Bouard

S. C. 33 L. J. C. P. 78; 9 L. T. 582; 10 Jur. N. S. 566; 12 W. R. 128; 3 N. R. 122. Referred to, Ellis v. M'Henry, 1871, L. R. 6 C. P. 239. Applied, Pemberton v. Hughes, [1899] 1 Ch. 791.

R. C. F. vanquelcn . bouard. Nov. 19th, 1863. [S. C. 33 L. J. C. P. 78 ; 9 L. T. 582 ; 10 Jur. N. S. 56G ; 12 W. R. 128 ; 3 N. R. 122. Referred to, Ellin v. M'Hmry, 1871, L. R. (i C. P. 239. Applied, Pemhertmi v. Hughes, [1899] 1 Ch. 791.] The first count of the declaration stated that one V., a French subject domiciled in France, drew certain bills at Orleans upon the defendant at Paris ; that V. indorsed them to one B. ; that the bills being dishonoured, B. obtained judgment against the defendant and V. in an action thereon in the court of the Tribunal of Commerce of the department of the Seine, a court of competent jurisdiction in that behalf ; that, according to the laws of France, in case V. satisfied the judgment, the defendant would become liable to pay V. the amount with interest, and V. would become entitled to the benefit of the judgment against the defendant, ami would be substituted for B. in all his rights upon the same against the defendant, and entitled to enforce the same for his own benefit against the defendant ; that afterwards, and whilst the judgment was in full force and unsatisfied by either the defendant or V., the latter died in France, and the plaintiff, his widow, became, in accordance with the laws of France, " the donee of the universality of the real and personal estates belonging to the succession of V. at his death, and thereby, and according to the laws of the said empire, all rights, claims, and causes of action, and also all liabilities and obligations of V., vested in her personally and absolutely, and she became according to the said laws liable personally upon the said judgment, and also entitled personally and in her own name to sue for and enforce all the rights and claims of V., and she was, according to the said laws, substituted for, and placed in the same position with respect to the defendant as regards the said bills and the said judgment thereon, to all intents and purposes as V. had been in his life-time;" that, afterwards, the plaintiff was obliged to pay and did pay the amount of the said judgment and interest, and thereupon B. delivered to her the bills and the record of the judgment, and the plaintiff then became and was, according to the laws of France, entitled to the benefit of all the rights of B. upon the judgment against the defendant, and entitled to enforce the same against the defendant, and to be substituted for B. in all his rights against the defendant in respect of the judgment, and the defendant became indebted and liable to pay the plaintiff the amount so paid by her, with interest ; that the defendant having neglected to pay the moneys so due from him to the plaintiff, the latter, in order to keep alive the liability of the defendant, and to prevent the same from being barred by lapse of time, and also in order to give effect to and enforce her claim ! upon the said judgment, took proceedings in the Tribunal Civil of the First Instanqe of the department of the Seine, being a court of competent jurisdiction in that behalf, and, according to the practice and procedure of that court, on the 2nd of April, 18G2, by adjudication of the court, an injunction was made to the defendant, in the name of law and justice, to pay within twenty-four hours to the plaintiff certain sums for principal, interest, and expenses ; that all conditions precedent, itc. had been complied with to entitle the plaintiff according to the laws of France to be paid those several sums ; and that they remained unpaid. - Held, on demurrer to this count, that it sufficiently disclosed a right in the plaintiff to sue in respect of the cause of action therein mentioned in the French courts in her own name, and consequently that it was competent to her to maintain an action herein respect of the payment so made by her after her husband's death, without taking out letters of administration in this country. - To this count the defendant pleaded that the bills were not drawn at Orleans, :is alleged : - Held, bad. - He further pleaded (11) that the sums alleged to be due by virtue of the said judgment q,nd injunction, and under the circumstances mentioned in the count,: would, according to the laws of France, form part of the succession of the deceased, and be assets in the hands of the plaintiff as such donee of the universality of the real 8l8 VANQUELTN V. BOCJARD 15 C. B. N. S.) 342. and personal estates belonging to the succession of the deceased, to he administered, such donee being, according to the said laws, the representative of the deceased in France, and entitled to the said sums of money in her representative character, and not otherwise:-Held, a bad plea, upon the same ground that the count was held / good.-He further pleaded (lli), that the judgment in the first count mentioned I was a judgment by default for want of appearance by the defendant in the court ! of the Tribunal de Commerce, and by the law of Franco would become void as of ; course on an appearance being entered :-Held, bad ; for that the possible con-' tingency of the judgment of the foreign court being set aside there, is no answer to an action to enforce, it. here. - He further pleaded (I.1!), that the court of the Tribunal de Commerce was not a court of competent jurisdiction ar-cording to the French law, because the defendant was not a trader when he accepted the bills, and because the bills falsely purported to be drawn at Orleans, whereas they were not drawn there, nor was the drawer domiciled there at the time tho bills were drawn : -Held, bad,-it sufficiently appearing that the Tribunal de Commerce had jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the suit, and that the matters alleged in the plea were matters which (if any defence) might and ought to have been set up by way of defence in that court.-The second count stated that certain bills of exchange were drawn upon the defendant by V., and accepted by him and dishonoured, that V. died, and the plaintiff was according to the laws of France " the douce of the universality of the personal and real estates belonging to the succession of V., and thereupon became entitled to all debts, claims, and causes of action which the deceased was entitled to, and the same became and were according to the said laws vested in the plaintiff personally and absolutely, in the same manner as they were vested in V., and the plaintiff was entitled to demand and sue for the same in her own name and in her own right, and the claims and rights of the deceased upon the said bills became vested in the plaintiff, and she became entitled to sue the defendant thereupon in her own name and in her own right:-Held, good, -it sufficiently appearing that the plaintiff was entitled to sue upon the bills in her own right; the fact of her being the donee of the universality of the personal and real estates belonging to the succession of her deceased husband giving her by the law of France rights different from those which an executor or administrator has in this country.-For the same reasons, a plea (! (i) to the second count, that the plaintiff was not executor or administrator of V., deceased, was held bad.-The 18th plea, -to both counts-stated that V. and the defendant, in France, agreed to purchase for their joint benefit a debt due to one (,)., and charged upon certain property in France ; that it was agreed upon between them that V. should advance the purchase-money, and that the defendant should accept the bills in the declaration mentione 1 as a security to the deceased in case the debt should not realize the amount of the purchase-money ; that, except as aforesaid, there was never any value or consideration for the acceptance of the bills ; that V. recovered a largo sum in respect of the said debt, and retained the same ; and that the share thereof belonging to the defendant, and so retained by V., was more than sufficient to satisfy the claim of V. in respect of the said judgment and bills :-Held, that this plea was a good answer to the claim in the second count, as amounting to an allegation that the bills were accommodation bills, and that there was no value or consideration for their acceptance; but that it afforded no answer to the first count.-That which constitutes a defence in the foreign court is not pleadablo in an action upon tho judgment in the courts of this country.-The rule that, in order to entitle a party to sue it) any court of this country, whether of law or equity, in respect of the personal rights of a testator or intestate, he must appear to have obtained probate or letters' of administration from the proper court here, is subject to this qualification, that he is suing in right of the deceased. The first count of the declaration stated that theretofore, to wit, in the year 1840, at Orleans, in the empire of France, one J. A. F. Vanquolin, being a French [342] subject, and domiciled in the said empire, by three certain bills of exchange directed to the defendant at Paris, required the defendant to pay to his the said ,1. A. F. Vanquelin's order, at the several times therein mentioned, certain sums of money amounting in the [343] whole to the sum of 14,000 francs in money of the said empire, and the defendant, in Paris, accepted the said bills, and the said J. A. F. 13 C. B.(N. S.)3tt. VANQTJETJN V, BOUARD 819 Vanquelin indorsed the said hills in France aforesaid to one Bolli; and the said bills arrived at maturity, and according to the laws of the said empire the defendant was under the primary obligation to honour and pay the amount of the said drafts, and the said J. A. F. Vanquelin was also liable as drawer of the same to pay and take up the...

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15 cases
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    ... ... In a much earlier case, Vanquelin v Bouard [1863] 15 CBNS 341 (Unreported) which was an action in England on a French judgment, Erle CJ, said: ... It has been well ... ...
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