This paper will focus on studying the state and federal court system in the United States of America. It will pay specific attention to such terms as subject-matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction. The paper will explain three types of personal jurisdiction – in rem jurisdiction, quasi in rem jurisdiction, and in personam jurisdiction. The emphasis will be made on the examples of each for better apprehension of the concepts. Finally, the paper will explain two types of cases that federal courts may hear – civil and criminal and provide the examples of each for the in-depth understanding of these terms.
Being an investigator is a challenging experience because it requires gaining new knowledge all the time. This time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office had a suspect in a neighboring state. Arresting this person is a subject of jurisdiction, the power to hear cases granted to lower courts by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Attorney wants investigators to have an understanding of the concept of jurisdiction before the arrest.
There are several types of jurisdiction, but primary ones involve subject-matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction. Subject-matter jurisdiction refers to the types of cases, which the court is empowered to hear. It encompasses “the type of offense, the location of the offense, and the aspect of the case being reviewed” (Welch & Fuller, 2014, p. 82). As of personal jurisdiction, it refers to the power of a court “over an individual person or corporation” (Neubauer & Fradell, 2014, p. 59), i.e. a particular defendant who has done some acts within the court’s location or was related to this place. Generally speaking, it is jurisdiction over a person or property.
A federal court has a set of requirements to personal jurisdiction. To hear the case, a person or a corporation (business) should live or be located within a particular geographic area. Except for the U.S. Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction over the whole territory of the country, federal courts are local and limited to a county or a district. There is also a concept known as long arm statutes which means that the court has the power to hear the case if the act was done in the territory of the court’s jurisdiction. Finally, in the case of a corporation, what matters is its corporate contacts, i.e. where the business is registered (Miller, 2013).
There are three major types of personal jurisdiction: in personam jurisdiction, in rem jurisdiction, and quasi in rem jurisdiction. In personam jurisdiction refers to the court’s power over an individual. For example, a court can compel a person to appear and answer some questions or seize an individual’s assets or even sentence to jail (Walston-Dunham, 2012). In rem jurisdiction is that over property. For example, courts have the right to confiscate cars that participated in illegal racings or those driven by a drunk person (Neubauer & Fradell, 2014). Finally, quasi in rem jurisdiction refers to the court’s authority to affect an individual’s property interests in particular areas (Sullivan & Massaro, 2013). For example, if a person has a bank account in a particular state, then he or she is under the jurisdiction of this state’s court.
In accordance with their jurisdiction, federal courts may hear two types of cases – criminal and civil. Criminal cases refer to such in which the government prosecutes a crime through the U.S. Attorney’ Office because a person has broken the law. Murder, theft or even driving in a state of intoxication when the court is involved all are the examples of criminal cases. As of civil cases, they are such that include two sides – a plaintiff and a defendant. In these cases, there is the fact of the conflict between these two sides, and the function of the court is to solve it (Civil cases vs. criminal cases – key differences, 2016). The examples of such cases are failing or refusal to carry out one’s duties under a statute or pay compensations for the inflicted harm.
References
Civil cases vs. criminal cases – key differences. (2016). Web.
Miller, R. L. (2013). Fundamental of business law: Summarized cases. (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South Western Cengage Learning.
Neubauer, D. W., & Fradell, H. W. (2014). America’s courts and the criminal justice system. (11th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
Sullivan, T. E., & Massaro, T. N. (2013). The arc of due process in American constitutional law. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.
Walston-Dunham, B. (2012). Introduction to law. (6th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning.
Welch, S., & Fuller, J. R. (2014). American criminal courts: Legal process and social context. Waltham, MA: Anderson Publishing.