JURISDICTION
The geographic area over which authority extends; legal authority; the authority to hear and determine causes of action.
Jurisdiction generally describes any author-
ity over a certain area or certain persons. In the
law, jurisdiction sometimes refers to a particular
geographic area containing a defined legal
authority. For example, the federal government
is a jurisdiction unto itself. Its power spans the
entire United States. Each state is also a jurisdic-
tion unto itself, with the power to pass its own
laws. Smaller geographic areas, such as counties
and cities, are separate jurisdictions to the extent
that they have powers that are independent of
the federal and state governments.
Jurisdiction also may refer to the origin of a
court’s authority. A court may be designated
either as a court of general jurisdiction or as a
court of special jurisdiction. A court of general
jurisdiction is a trial court that is empowered to
hear all cases that are not specifically reserved
for courts of special jurisdiction. A court of spe-
cial jurisdiction is empowered to hear only cer-
tain kinds of cases.
Courts of general jurisdiction are often
called district courts or superior courts. In New
York State, however, the court of general juris-
diction is called the Supreme Court of New
York. In most jurisdictions, other trial courts of
special jurisdiction exist apart from the courts of
general jurisdiction; some examples are probate,
tax, traffic, juvenile, and, in some cities, DRUG
COURTS. At the federal level, the district courts
are courts of general jurisdiction. Federal courts
of special jurisdiction include the U.S. TAX
COURT and the BANKRUPTCY courts.
Jurisdiction can also be used to define the
proper court in which to bring a particular case.
In this context, a court has either original or
appellate jurisdiction over a case. When the
court has original jurisdiction, it is empowered
to conduct a trial in the case.When the court has
appellate jurisdiction, it may only review the
trial court proceedings for error.
Generally, courts of general and special
jurisdiction have original jurisdiction over most
cases, and appeals courts and the jurisdiction’s
highest court have appellate jurisdiction, but
this is not always the case. For example, under
Article III, Section 2, Clause 2, of the U.S. Con-
stitution, the U.S. Supreme Court is a court of
appellate jurisdiction. However, under the same
clause, that court has original jurisdiction in
cases between states. Such cases usually concern
disputes over boundaries and waterways.
Finally, jurisdiction refers to the inherent
authority of a court to hear a case and to declare
a judgment. When a plaintiff seeks to initiate a
suit, he or she must determine where to file the
complaint. The plaintiff must file suit in a court
that has jurisdiction over the case. If the court
does not have jurisdiction, the defendant may
challenge the suit on that ground, and the suit
may be dismissed, or its result may be over-
turned in a subsequent action by one of the par-
ties in the case.
A plaintiff may file suit in federal court;
however, state courts generally have concurrent
jurisdiction. Concurrent jurisdiction means that
both the state and federal court have jurisdiction
over the matter.
If a claim can be filed in either state or federal
court, and the plaintiff files the claim in state
court, the defendant may remove the case to fed-
eral court (28 U.S.C.A. §§ 1441 et seq.). This is a
tactical decision. Federal court proceedings are
widely considered to be less susceptible to bias
because the jury pool is drawn from the entire
state, not just from the local community.
State courts have concurrent jurisdiction in
most cases. Federal courts have exclusive juris-
diction in a limited number of cases, such as fed-
eral criminal, antitrust, bankruptcy, patent,
COPYRIGHT, and some ADMIRALTY cases, as well
as suits against the U.S. government.
Under federal and state laws and court rules, a
court may exercise its inherent authority only if it
has two types of jurisdiction: personal and subject
matter. PERSONAL JURISDICTION is the authority
that a court has over the parties in the case. SUB-
JECT MATTER JURISDICTION is a court’s author-
