As used in Sections 12-650 through 12-657, "foreign judgment" means any judgment, decree, or order of a court of the United States or of any other court which is entitled to full faith and credit in this State.
12-651.Definition.
Article XII. Judgments - Enforcement · Part 6. Foreign Judgments and Foreign-Money Claims · Not amended since adoption on record · Last verified July 20, 2026
In one sentenceDefines “foreign judgment,” for purposes of this Act only, as any judgment, decree, or order of a United States court, state or federal, entitled to full faith and credit in Illinois.
Full Text of 735 ILCS 5/12-651
Plain-English Summary
This is the definition that matters most for reading this Act correctly. “Foreign judgment” here means a judgment of a court within the United States, another state's court or a federal court, that Illinois must give full faith and credit under the U.S. Constitution and federal law. It is not a judgment of a foreign nation.
The shared word “foreign” across this Act and the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act later in this Part is a source of real confusion, because the two Acts apply completely different standards. This Act's sister-state and federal judgments get enforced under the mandatory constitutional command of full faith and credit; the other Act's foreign-country judgments get recognized under a comity-based standard with room for the resisting party to raise defenses like public policy or lack of due process that don't apply here.
The definition is limited to judgments, decrees, and orders of a court. It doesn't reach every out-of-state government determination, such as an administrative agency ruling that was never entered as a court judgment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does “foreign judgment” in this Act include a judgment from another country?
No. It is limited to judgments of United States courts, whether a sister state's court or a federal court.
Which courts' judgments qualify as “foreign judgments” under this Act?
Any court of the United States or of a sister state, so long as the judgment is entitled to full faith and credit in Illinois.
What does “entitled to full faith and credit” mean here?
It refers to the constitutional and federal-statutory obligation requiring Illinois to give the same effect to a valid sister-state or federal court judgment that it would receive in the court that entered it.
Why does this Act use the word “foreign” for judgments of other U.S. states?
Because from Illinois's perspective, a sister state's court is a separate sovereign's court; the term predates and is distinct from the later Act addressing judgments of actual foreign nations.
Does this definition include an out-of-state administrative agency's decision?
No. The definition is limited to a judgment, decree, or order of a court.
Amendment History
(Source: P.A. 87-358; 87-895.)
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Illinois Compiled Statutes, published by the
Illinois Compiled Statutes, Illinois General Assembly / Legislative Reference Bureau. Last verified July 20, 2026.
· Official source
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