Decision of the Court of cassation, I Civil Section, No. 5710 of 12 November 2013, filed on 12 March 2014

The Court of Cassation rejected the recourse introduced by two Italian spouses against the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Venice, which had refused to enforce in Italy a divorce decree issued in respect of them by the Court of Santo Domingo. The Court noted that in application of law No. 218 of 1995, the jurisdiction of the Italian courts over the case had to be affirmed on the grounds of three criteria: first, the spouses were Italian nationals; second, they were resident in Italy; and, third, the marriage had been celebrated in Italy. On the other hand and by virtue of Article 4 of the same law, the Italian jurisdiction could not be derogated on the basis of consent, because the case concerned inalienable rights. As a consequence, it was useless to examine a further argument put forward by the claimants, i.e. that the decision of the Court of Santo Domingo was not contrary to public order.

  • Original language: Italiano