Jurisdiction ( Still a wider realm to be discovered)

The word Jurisdiction is derived from the latin word “ Jurisdictio” which means jurisdiction, authority , to judge, or administer justice. Types of Jurisdiction Three kinds of governmental power give rise to three categories of jurisdiction. 1. Prescriptive Jurisdiction limits legislative power. 2. Adjudicative Jurisdiction limits judicial process. 3. Enforcement Jurisdiction limits executive Jurisdiction. Jurisdiction in traditional senses in India We have a very narrow approach from the term Jurisdiction we comprehend only territorial, pecuniary and subject matter jurisdiction.

1. Pecuniary Jurisdiction : This Jurisdiction is related to money and states that court has a monetary limit beyond which is cannot dispose of cases Sec. 6 of CPC provides for such jurisdiction.
2. Subject Matter Jurisdiction : This jurisdiction is based on the type of the cases, for example, the case of writ petition can only be adjudicated by High court under article 226 and by Supreme court under article 32.
3. Territorial Jurisdiction : It is based on the geographical area and can only be brought before a court if the act is done within the territorial area limit where its jurisdiction lies.

Types of Jurisdiction:

1. Subject matter and personal jurisdiction There’s a lot of variation in the above two jurisdictions
    Subject matter refers to the court’s power to decide a particular case.
    Personal and In personam jurisdiction means the power of court to help a person before it and decide his or her rights. It generally of four types :- presence, domicile, consent, minimum contacts.
2. General and Specific Jurisdiction :
    General Jurisdiction basically means that the court has power to hear all types of cases.
    Specific Jurisdiction means the power of the court to try a person in another state other than the home state or where he has minimum contacts.
3. National and International Jurisdiction:
    National Jurisdiction basically means what pertains to a particular state.
    International Jurisdiction or the concept of universal jurisdiction is closely linked to the idea that some international are ‘ erga omnes’ or owed to the entire world community, as well as the concept of ‘jus cogens’ that certain international law obligations are binding on all states and cannot be modified by treaty. Theories of Jurisdiction in cyberspace Cyberspace according to the American Heritage Dictionary is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place. There are three theories
4. The theory of uploader and downloader The uploader puts information into a location into cyberspace and the downloader downloads it later on from cyberspace without knowing their identity. Both civil and criminal and forbid the uploading of documents which are forbidden by state and if someone uploads such he will be consummated in the state where the uploader is located.
5. The Minnesota theory ( Rejecting territorial state) The theory was formulated in Minnesota jurisdiction over uploaders outside their own territorial boundaries. It was held that “person outside Minnesota who transmit information via the internet knowing that information will be disseminated in Minnesota are subject to Jurisdiction in Minnesota court for violation of states civil and criminal laws.
6. Theory of Server ( Rejecting Territoriality ) According to this theory, the jurisdiction in cyberspace is to treat the server where web pages are physically ‘located’ (where they are recorded as electronic data) as the suits of a criminal action for the purpose of asserting territorial jurisdiction.

For example, under the theory, a person sitting in Pakistan is subject to Indian laws. Thus concluding by telling that these Jurisdiction are very important to be known because of the technological advancement and on the same hand increasing crime rates are touching the sky. Apart from cyber jurisdiction, internet jurisdiction also plays an important role.

[The author, Sourav Suman is a law student at CPJ College of Law]