Template:Process agent capsule
A process agent for an agreement subject to the jurisdiction the courts of England and Wales is a business located England or Wales (or, in theory, their adjacent territorial waters) which accepts service of legal proceedings filed in English courts on behalf of a person who has no permanent place of business in England or Wales.
The rules of English civil court procedure require notice of legal proceedings (called “process”) before an English (or Welsh) court to be physically served on the defendant in England or Wales (or, at the limit, in their adjacent territorial waters[1]. Service in Scotland — or its territorial waters — will not do. This means you can serve process on someone rowing a boat in the Bristol Channel, but not in Inverness, much less on someone escaping in rowing a boat to, for example, the Isle of Skye.
This means if you have a contract with a counterparty who has no place of business in England or Wales (or their territorial waters), it will need to appoint a process agent on whom you can serve court papers should, heaven forfend, you need to.
Jurisdiction, not governing law
Point for details freaks: it is the jurisdiction of the English courts and not English governing law law that matters. A contract governed by Swiss law but subject to the jurisdiction of the English courts[2] would still need an English or Welsh process agent. In theory — and, yes, a ripe theory it would be — a contract governed by English law but subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of Italian courts[3] would not.
This also means that an agreement subject to some ghastly foreign law and the non-exclusive jurisdiction of some ghastly foreign courts, and which therefore could, in theory, come before an English or Welsh court, would require a process agent in England, Wales, or their territorial waters for that to happen. This would look most odd in the negotiation process. The JC hereby offers a free bag of sweeties to the first person who can show they have successfully inserted the appointment of an English process agent into a foreign law agreement for this reason.[4]
- ↑ In the Civil Procedure Rules the “jurisdiction” is defined as “unless the context requires otherwise, England and Wales and any part of the territorial waters of the United Kingdom adjoining England and Wales” so, therefore, the UK’s territorial waters adjoining Scotland or Northern Ireland are out of bounds.
- ↑ This sounds ridiculous, I know, but it does happen. The JC has personal direct experience.
- ↑ This sounds ridiculous, I know, and is ridiculous. The JC has no personal direct experience of this (and does not want any, so you can save your postcards).
- ↑ Up to fifty new pence in value, postage and packing excepted. Judge’s decision final is arbitrary, crotchety, and no correspondence will be entered into unless he feels like it, which he probably will. Competition not open to friends, relations or acquaintances of the JC.