History of Personal Jurisdiction
Personal jurisdiction for businesses selling in multiple states has been a complicated issue in the courts. “A court does not have power over every person in the world. Before a court may decide a case, the court must determine whether it has "personal jurisdiction" over the parties. A plaintiff may not sue a defendant in a jurisdiction foreign to the defendant, unless that defendant has established some relationship with that forum that would lead him to reasonably anticipate being sued there.” (6)
There are two types of personal jurisdiction a court can enforce: general and specific. General jurisdiction holds that companies may be sued in any jurisdiction where it is incorporated or has its headquarters. Establishing general jurisdiction usually relies on the "nerve-center" test: determining the location that is the center hub of operations. Because this theory specifies physical presence in a forum, it does not often apply well to multi-state, multi-national and internet-based businesses. As business became increasingly complex, a broader perspective was needed.
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A court can establish specific jurisdiction over a defendant only if he or she has "certain minimum contacts." (5) The minimum contacts precedent was set in 1945 when the Supreme Court ruled in the case of International Shoe Co. v. Washington that personal jurisdiction applied to any business that had “sufficient minimum contacts” in the state where they were being sued. (4) This precedent was furthered in 1958 with the decision of Hanson V Denckla. In this case, the court ruled that the defendant must purposefully gain benefit from conducting activities within a forum state.
United States v. Sell, 343 F.3d 950, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 26859 (8th Cir., Sept. 2, 2003)
a. but most admiralty cases can be brought in state courts unless they qualify under diversity. b. But federal admiralty law will be applied. iii. Jurisdiction arises under: a. 28 USC 1331: federal question b. 28 USC 1332: diversity c. iv. BUT, Congress didn’t choose to enact substantive law in the statutes – left to the courts. v. Courts mainly address three issues: a. what is an admiralty case? b. if it is, what is the admiralty rule?
Q1 THE COURT/S IN WHICH THE CASE WAS HEARD (OUTLINE THE CRIMINAL JURISDICTION OF THE COURT)
"Schenck v. United States. Baer v. Same.." LII. Cornell University Law school, n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2014. .
Miller, R. L., and Hollowell, W. E. (2006). 2007 Business law and legal environment texts. Mason, OH: West Legal Studies in Business.
Melvin, S. P. (2011). The legal environment of business: A managerial approach: Theory to practice. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Schmitz, A. (2012). The Legal Environment and Business Law (Executive M.B.A. Edition v. 1.10 ed.). [Adobe PDF]. Retrieved from
However, the U.S. District Courts are required to handle these two special cases, which are the cases from the Court of International Trade and U.S. Court of Federal Claims. In addition, every district with Federal district courts also has one U.S. bankruptcy court. California Superior Courts, in contract, take care of "appeals of small claims cases and other civil cases worth $25,000 or less and appeals of misdemeanor cases" (Superior Court of California). An example can be found where a citizen violated the state law and was sued by the state government.
In this essay, I will be examining how the court system can fail to deliver justice for particular cases and people’s circumstances, as well as looking at alternatives to court, like circle sentencing, restorative sentencing and alternatives for children to the formal court system, as outlined in the Young Offenders Act 1997 (NSW). Crime is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law. On the other side of this is justice; the quality of being fair and reasonable.
Twomey, D. (2013). Anderson's Business Law and the Legal Environment, Comprehensive Volume [VitalSouce bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://digitalbookshelf.southuniversity.edu/books/9781285696683/id/L35-1-7
Felonious trials concerning federal laws may only be heard by federal courts; however, most illegal trials contain infractions of state laws, and the state court is the court that tries those violations. Trials against the United States and cases including precise federal acts are some claims state courts are not authorized to hear. In numerous circumstances, state courts and federal courts have “jurisdiction.” This authorizes parties to decide either state court or federal court to trial their case ("What the Federal Courts
According to the facts in this case, Walkovszky was hit by a cab four years ago in New York and the cab was negligently operated by defendant Marches. The defendant Carlton, who is being sued, owned and ran the cab company in which he set up ten corporations, including Seon. Each of the corporations had two cabs registered in its name. The minimum automobile liability insurance required by the law was $10,000. According to the opinion of the court the plaintiff asserted that he is also ?entitled to hold their stock holder personally liable for damages, because multiple corporate structures constitutes an unlawful attempt to defraud the general member of the public.?
Amount 26 states and the individuals have argued stating that law is not jurisdictional because it is not a barrier to both the individuals (NYTimes, 2013).
Cheeseman, H., (2013). Business law: legal environment, online commerce, business ethics, and international issues. (8th ed.), (pp. 168-205). New Jersey: Pearson Education.