Yahimovitz v Rubashitz

• Jurisdiction: Israel
• Date: 26 June 1956
• Court: Supreme Court (Israel)

Israel, Supreme Court (sitting as the Court of Civil Appeals).

(Olshan C.J.; Berenson and Vitkon JJ.)

Yahimovitz

and

Rubashitz.

Treaties — Operation of — Requirement of Notification Establishing Existence of Reciprocity — Effect of — Absence of Notification — The Law of Israel.

The Facts.—This was an appeal from a decision of the District Court to issue an “order of succession” relating to the division of an estate situated in France. A dispute had arisen between two of the heirs, the appellant and the respondent respectively, the appellant alleging that the dispute had been decided in her favour by an arbitration award between the two parties rendered in France in June 1952. On October 24, 1957, Israel signed the Convention on the Execution of Foreign Arbitral Awards of September 26, 1927. This was ratified on February 27, 1952, and, in accordance with Article 8, it came into force for Israel on May 27, 1952. By the Arbitration (Foreign Awards) Ordinance, 1934, provision was made for the enforcement in Israel of arbitral awards covered by the Convention on condition that the Minister of Justice had published an appropriate notification establishing the existence of reciprocal provisions in Israel and the country in which the award was made. The District Court had decided the case on the basis that the succession was regulated by Israel law, and that the arbitral award could not be enforced in Israel.

On appeal,

Held: that the appeal must...