Store Research
Assembly Bill 838 (Z’berg – 1967)
Chapter 503, Statutes of 1967, AB 838
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As enacted in 1967, Assembly Bill 838 amended section 1915 of and added sections 1713 through 1713.8 to the Code of Civil Procedure relating to the recognition of foreign money-judgments. (See Exhibit A, #1e) This law was known as the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgment Recognition Act. (Id. at page 1848) Assembly member Edwin Z’berg introduced the bill on February 28, 1967 at the request of the California Commissioners on Uniform State Laws to enact the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgment Recognition Act that had been drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. (See Exhibit A, #1a; #3, page 1; and #4, document A-6) Assembly member Z’berg was a commissioner on the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. (See Exhibit A, #4, document A-8 and #5, document PE-1)
Assembly Bill 838 was assigned to the Assembly Committee on Judiciary and the Senate Committee on Judiciary where policy issues raised by the bill were considered. (See Exhibit A, #2 and #3) Three amendments were made to Assembly Bill 838 during the legislative process. (See Exhibit A, #1b through #1d and #2) Subsequent to legislative approval, Governor Ronald Reagan signed the bill on June 30, 1967, and it was recorded by the Secretary of State on that day as Chapter 503 of the Statutes of 1967. (See Exhibit A, #1e and #2)
According to the Senate Committee on Judiciary Bill Analysis Work Sheet the purpose of Assembly Bill 838 was to “set standards upon which money judgments rendered in foreign nation will be recognized in California.” (See Exhibit A, #4, document A-10)
The following description of Assembly Bill 838 is found in the Review of Selected 1967 Code Legislation published by California Continuing Education of the Bar:
Assembly Bill 838 enacts, with few changes, the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgment Recognition Act as proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. …The primary intent is to codify standards for foreign money judgments, making it easier for foreign courts to examine local law and thereby reciprocally grant recognition to California judgments.
…Before this addition to the Code of Civil Procedure, recognition of all foreign judgments was based on CCP§1915.
The new act relates exclusively to judgments rendered in foreign countries and recognizes only those judgments that grant or deny recovery of a sum of money (except judgments for taxes, fines, penalties, or support in matrimonial or family matters). Under §1915, which is amended to except the new act, a foreign judgment was given the same effect in California as where rendered. But under the new law, the judgment is to be “enforceable in the same manner as the judgment of a sister state which is entitled to full faith and credit.” Since CCP §1913, which controls the effect given a judgment of a sister state, says that the judgment is to have the same effect as it would be given where rendered, under the new act a foreign judgment ultimately has the same effect as it had under §1915.
(See Exhibit #7, pages 80 and 81