Section 60: Action against absent defendants

60. Action against absent defendants (1) (a) Civil and commercial actions against absent defendants, whether Mauritian citizens or not, shall be heard before the Supreme Court, or, by leave of a Judge, before the Intermediate Court or the District Court of Port Louis when the matter at issue is within the jurisdiction of the Intermediate Court or the District Court, as the case may be. (b) In all such actions in the Supreme Court, the declaration or plaint with summons, as the case may be, shall not be filed or served, or in the Intermediate Court or in the District Court, the summons shall not be issued or served on such absent defendants without leave of the Supreme Court or of a Judge given in Form C or D of the Schedule. (2) Service of such initial process shall be effected out of Mauritius in the same way as the initial process in an action is required to be served in the country or jurisdiction in which the service is to be effected, and proof of such service having been effected, when required by the Court in Mauritius, shall be given in the manner provided by the law in force in such country or jurisdiction. (3) In this Act, “initial process” means— (a) in civil actions in the Supreme Court, the plaint; (b) in commercial actions in the Supreme Court, the plaint with summons; (c) in actions other than in the Supreme Court, the summons, but does not include a mise en demeure. (4) Sections 60 to 71 shall not apply to— (a) actions on bills of exchange or promissory notes brought under sections 2 to 8; (b) actions under the Divorce and Judicial Separation Act in relation to which regulations have been made pursuant to section 21 (2) of that Act; (c) any other civil or commercial action where rules have been made by the Judges with regard to service on absent parties. [S. 60 amended by Act 29 of 1992; Act 15 of 1994.]