12-671.Saving clause.

Article XII. Judgments - Enforcement · Part 6. Foreign Judgments and Foreign-Money Claims · Last amended 2012 · Last verified July 20, 2026

In one sentenceClarifies that even a foreign-country judgment falling outside this Act's coverage, such as a tax or domestic-relations judgment, may still be recognized under comity or other existing legal principles.

Full Text of 735 ILCS 5/12-671

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This Act does not prevent the recognition under principles of comity or otherwise of a foreign-country judgment not within the scope of this Act.

Plain-English Summary

This Act doesn't cover every foreign-country judgment; Section 12-663 excludes tax judgments, fines and penalties, and domestic-relations judgments even when they otherwise involve a sum of money. This section makes sure that exclusion isn't read as a bar to recognition altogether.

It preserves whatever avenue for recognition already existed outside this Act, principles of comity or other legal doctrine, for a foreign-country judgment the Act itself doesn't reach. The section adds no new pathway of its own; it confirms that the older ones survive alongside the Act.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens to a foreign judgment that this Act excludes, like a tax judgment?

It can still be recognized, if at all, under comity or other legal principles outside this Act; the exclusion in Section 12-663 doesn't foreclose recognition entirely.

Does this section create a new pathway to recognition?

No. It preserves whatever recognition avenues, such as comity, already existed apart from this Act.

Why include a saving clause like this in the statute?

To make clear that the Act's exclusions narrow only this Act's coverage, not a court's broader authority to recognize a foreign judgment on other grounds.

Does this affect judgments Section 12-663 carves out of the Act's scope?

Yes, this is the section that keeps those carved-out judgments from being left with no possible route to recognition in Illinois.

Is recognition under comity automatic for an excluded judgment?

No. Comity recognition remains a separate, discretionary, case-by-case inquiry outside this Act's own standards.

Amendment History

(Source: P.A. 97-140, eff. 1-1-12.)

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

Also known as: comity recognition of a foreign judgment Illinoisjudgments outside the foreign country recognition actsaving clause foreign judgment recognition Illinoisrecognizing a foreign tax or divorce judgment