Law Terms

Law Terms

Common Law

Common law's root is from our colonial heritage which is based on the English legal system. It is a legal system that is largely formed by the decisions previously made by courts and not imposed by legislatures or other government officials. The reasoning used to interpret this type of law is known as casuistry, or case-based reasoning. It is a strict, principle-based reasoning that uses the circumstances of a case to evaluate the laws that are applicable. Decisions that were made about similar cases are valuable, and the case in question is evaluated on the basis of past cases. The strength of the similarity among the cases, in turn, strengthens the reasoning based on them (Miller & Jentz, 2008).

Jurisdiction

According to the Business Dictionary, jurisdiction is power or right of a legal or political agency to exercise its authority over a person, subject matter, or territory. Jurisdiction over a person relates to the authority to try him or her as a defendant. Jurisdiction over a subject matter relates to authority derived from the country's constitution or laws to consider a particular case. Jurisdiction over a territory relates to the geographic area over which a court has the authority to decide cases. Concurrent jurisdiction exists where two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case.

There are two types of jurisdiction in the court: subject matter jurisdiction and in personal jurisdiction. Subject matter jurisdiction relates to a court's power to decide a particular class of case. (Butera, n.d.).

However, the personal jurisdiction relates to the power of a court to haul a person before it and adjudicate his or her rights. Personal jurisdiction is largely territorial. For a proper exercise of jurisdiction, a court must have a meaningful connection to the party before it, either by way of residence within the court's territory, involvement in a transaction or controversy within the court's geographic...