ON JURISDICTION!

Hello and welcome to the blog!

Today's post geared towards contributions in international development would discuss the Principle of jurisdiction and the provisions under international law.

Jurisdiction is generally defined as a court's general authority to hear and/or “adjudicate” a legal matter. In today’s topic, we shall be discussing the five types of jurisdiction principles in international law and they are:

Any fundamentals of a government include her power to regulate people, property, and transactions or to prescribe conduct, usually through the passage of laws or regulations. Jurisdiction in this wise would also mean, its power to ensure safety and maximum security of its citizenry from any form of external force.

As opposed to the jurisdiction we have come to know, in maritime law, Once a ship is 24 miles from any coastline, it's on the high seas (or international waters). With the exception of certain rights within the contiguous zone, the law of that ship is the law of the country whose flag it's flying.

Talking briefly about the jurisdiction in space, according to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), which is tasked with promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, space law is the "body of law applicable to and governing space-related activities.

The principles of jurisdiction shall be discussed below:

TERRITORIAL PRINCIPLE (Fundamental character):  is a principle of public international law under which a sovereign State can prosecute criminal offences that are committed within its borders, a crime or events occurring within a state’s territorial boundaries, and persons within that territory, even if their presence if temporal, one subject to the application of local law. It may also be applied to acts that are partially completed in his territory.

The principle also bars states from exercising jurisdiction beyond their borders, unless they have jurisdiction under other principles such as the principle of nationality, the passive personality principle, the protective principle, and possibly universal jurisdiction.

The Lotus case was a key court ruling on the territoriality principle. In 1926, a French vessel collided with a Turkish vessel, causing the death of several Turkish nationals. The Permanent Court of International Justice ruled, by a bare majority, that Turkey had jurisdiction to try the French naval lieutenant for criminal negligence, even though the incident happened beyond Turkey's boundaries. This case extended the territoriality principle to cover cases that happen outside a state's boundaries, but have a substantial effect on the state's interests or involve its citizens.

Questions have surfaced regarding how the territoriality principle applies, with the rise of globalization and the Internet. The applicability of this principle also was in question, with the case against Augusto Pinochet and other cases of transnational justice.

ACTIVE PERSONALITY PRINCIPLE/ NATIONALITY PRINCIPLE: 

A crime against a person anywhere in the world is against the state. (Where the person is from) or the nationality of the accused person.

PASSIVE PERSONALITY PRINCIPLE: 

Here, criminal jurisdiction is exercised by the state of the nationality in situations where the crime takes place abroad.

PROTECTIVE PRINCIPLE:

This is a rule of international law that allows a sovereign state to assert jurisdiction over a person whose conduct outside its boundaries threatens the state's security or interferes with the operation of its government functions.

UNIVERSALITY PRINCIPLE: 

This is a principle of international law that allows a state’s courts to prosecute individuals for international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture committed anywhere in this world, even though neither the offender nor the victims are linked by nationality to the prosecuting state. This in its broad sense implies that a state can claim jurisdiction over certain crimes committed by any person anywhere in the world without any required connection to the territory, nationality or special state interest.

The concept of universal jurisdiction - which relates to the ability and obligation of national courts to investigate and prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and genocide - is distinct from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court

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