Foreign powers of attorney relating to real estate – the issue of the probative value of a document and the effectiveness of a legal act from the perspective of the land and mortgage registry court

Abstract

The role of foreign powers of attorney in contemporary legal and economic transactions is constantly growing. This is due to the widespread labour migration and, paradoxically, in the last year, also with difficulties in cross-border movement during the COVID-19 pandemic. In judiciary and notarial practice, the assessment of foreign documents, including powers of attorney, is a threestage process. Firstly, the court should pay attention to the probative value of a foreign document. In principle, it is equal to the probative value of a national document (Article 1138 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Only certain categories of documents require consular legalization. It is used when there is no bilateral agreement eliminating or reducing this requirement with the country where the document has been issued. In the case of many countries, legalization was replaced by the apostille clause provided for in the 1965 Hague Convention. Secondly, the court should analyse the formal effectiveness of the legal act, taking into account the principles derived from Article 25 of the 2011 Private International Law Act and, in some cases, bilateral agreements. Last but not least, thirdly, the court should examine the material effectiveness of the act. The governing law of the power of attorney may, pursuant to Article 23 of the Private International Law Act, be subject to the choice of law rule. This text is a guide for courts on how to deal with foreign powers of attorney in land and mortgage registry proceedings.

Keywords

• foreign public documents
• form of legal act
• consular legalization of documents