Re Rowan (Deceased); Rowan v Rowan

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: MR. JUSTICE DECLAN COSTELLO
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1988
• Neutral Citation: 1987 WJSC-HC 2209
• Date: 01 January 1988
• Court: High Court

1987 WJSC-HC 2209

THE HIGH COURT

No. 114Sp/1987

ROWAN v. ROWAN

IN THE GOODS OF BERNARD LOUIS ROWAN, DECEASED

BETWEEN

JOSEPH ROWAN

Plaintiff

and

VERA AGNES ROWAN MICHEL LOUIS ROWAN JACQUELINE CATHERINE DAHAN CAROLINE ANNE ROWAN GERALDINE MARY ROWAN BRENDAN O'CONNELL

Defendants

Synopsis:

ADMINISTRATION

Executor

Costs - Indemnity - Foreign suit - Domicil issue - Foreign judgment - Comity of courts - The testator, who was born in Ireland, lived in France from 1949 until his death there in 1984 - By his will the testator appointed the plaintiff to be the executor thereof and the residuary legatee - The plaintiff had been defendant in proceedings in a French court and there submitted that the testator had died domiciled in Ireland - The trial court rejected that submission but did not award any costs - A French court of appeal dismissed the plaintiff's appeal, described his submissions as quibbling, and ordered him to pay the other beneficiaries 50,000 francs damages for delaying their enjoyment of the benefits conferred by the will - Shortly afterwards the High Court decided in ~Rowan v. Rowan~ (Costello J. - 17/12/86) that the testator had died domiciled in France - The plaintiff here sought an order authorising him to be paid, from the assets of the testator in Ireland, the costs incurred by the plaintiff in the French suit and the said damages - Held, in dismissing the claim, that it was unlikely that the plaintiff would have been given liberty to defend the French suit, and that the comity of courts required that the court should not act contrary to the view of the French courts in regard to the plaintiff's entitlement to the costs of the French suit - (1987/114 Sp - Costello J. - 26/6/87)

|Rowan v. Rowan|

CONFLICT OF LAWS

Comity of courts

Executor - Costs - Indemnity - Foreign suit - Domicil issue - Foreign judgment - Refusal of High Court to act contrary to the view expressed by a foreign court in regard to the plaintiff's entitlement to his costs of the suit in the foreign court - ~See~ Administration, executor - (1987/114 Sp - Costello J. - 26/6/87)

|Rowan v. Rowan|

1 JUDGMENT DELIVERED BY THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DECLAN COSTELLO ON 26TH JUNE 1987

2 These proceedings relate to the estate of the deceased Bernard Louis Rowan who died in France on 22nd April 1984.

3 The deceased had left a Will in which he appointed his brother, the Plaintiff in these proceedings, his executor, and he made a number of bequests in the Will, including a bequest for Masses and bequests of his estate to some of his children, leaving the residue of the estate to Mr Joseph Rowan.

4 Subsequently proceedings were instituted here in this country, and I heard them and gave judgment on 17th December 1986 in relation to them. The question that arose for determination in those proceedings was the domicile of the deceased at the time of his death. I made an order determining the questions asked by answering them to the effect that the deceased had died domiciled in France.

5 It appears that the deceased had considerable assets in France, in Switzerland and in this country amounting to £100,000.

6 The Plaintiff in these proceedings had been the Defendant in proceedings in France arising on the question as to whether or not the deceased had died domiciled in France. The Plaintiff in these proceedings defended those proceedings, arguing, as he did strenuously before me, that the deceased's domicile was Ireland.

7 The Court of first instance in France decided against the Defendant but made no order as to costs in that it directed that no costs would be paid out of the estate to any of the parties. Mr Rowan, the Plaintiff in these proceedings, appealed that order and by a judgment of the Court...