1. the right, power, or authority to administer justice by hearing and determining controversies.
2. power; authority; control: He has jurisdiction over all American soldiers in the area.
3. the extent or range of judicial, law enforcement, or other authority: This case comes under the jurisdiction of the local police.
4. the territory over which authority is exercised: All islands to the northwest are his jurisdiction.
In law, jurisdiction (from the Latin ius, iuris meaning "law" and dicere meaning "to speak") is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility.
There are three main types of judicial jurisdiction, personal (personam), territorial (locum), and subject matter (subjectam):
Personal - Authority over a person, regardless of his location.
Territorial - Authority confined to a bounded space, including all those present therein, and events which occur there.
Subject Matter - Authority over the subject of the legal questions involved in the case.
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Today's topic is, as you can see, jurisdiction. It takes the average law student about 4 months to understand the concept of jurisdiction, but I'm about to break it down right here and now. Ever wonder why the bad guys in the old movies were always trying to get "over the county line"?? It's because the sheriff chasing them lacked jurisdiction in the next county over...... it was outside of their territory so they had no right to enforce any laws over there. That was left to the sheriff in that county. That sheriff has a "defined area of responsibility," namely his county.
Likewise, jurisdiction applies in relationships. Yes, I said relationships. Different types of relationships give rise to the three types of jurisdiction to varying degrees. Let's start with the easiest and broadest one: personal jurisdiction and marriage. Marriage gives each spouse personal jurisdiction over the other. That means regardless of where you are or what you're doing, your spouse has some say in what you're doing and has the right to get upset about whatever you're doing (if he/she finds out, but that's a whole 'nother issue). He or she has the right to say something about who you're spending time with, how long you spend time with them, where you're going, how much money you're spending, and what you doing. It's part and parcel to marriage.... they should just print it on the back of the marriage license: "This document confers in personam jurisdiction to the parties to this agreement." There are no county lines you can cross to escape it. Sorry.
Next we have territorial jurisdiction, which may apply when you have yourself a boo-thang in another city but you're otherwise not exclusive boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife. It's summed up best by the line from Common's song So Far To Go: "Sweetheart you know that you're the most...... important, at least on the west coast......." When you're in town with that person, they have the right to have a say in what you do and have a right to get upset about such things. For example, you can't go visit your Chicago boo and be out trying to holla at other men while you're there, but this may be perfectly acceptable for either one of you when you're back in your respective cities. Their jurisdiction exists only in that territory, i.e. that city.
Subject matter jurisdiction is a little trickier to apply in this context (but bear with me, for I am the queen of the metaphor). Subject matter jurisdiction falls more into a grey area, and comes into play in the "just dating" realm or any other relationship that's short of being engaged or married, but is obviously someone you spend a decent amount of time with. Which subject matters you have jurisdiction over (i.e. which you legitimately have a say about) really depends on the nature and stage of your relationship. These subject matters would include, but are not limited to, how often a person calls, whether that person can talk to/flirt with others, your priority in relation to that person's friends/family/pets, whether you get invited to family events, etc. The longer and more involved the relationship, the more subject matters you have jurisdiction over. This is the area where people get confused as to how much say they actually have, and this is where people are most likely to get their feelings hurt. It is very important to have a realistic view of the subject matter jurisdiction that you have in a particular relationship. Stalkers, for example, have NO concept of subject matter jurisdiction, whereas true "friends with benefits" have a very good concept of subject matter jurisdiction.
Being a recently divorced/single woman, I am having issues with subjectam jurisdiction..... not so much over others, but what others feel like they have over me. I can do things that might otherwise be considered disrespectful or hurtful if I had a more developed and committed relationship with certain individuals (like, for example, The Ex)..... but bottom line is I don't, so those people don't have anything to say about certain things I choose to do. That was part of the motivation behind Le Divorce Tattoo (the tattoo I got after my divorce was finalized)..... I no longer had anyone who had a say over whether I decided to get a very prominent (and very beautiful) tattoo. It's just me here, for the first time ever in my life really. I respect the relationships that I have with people, but I realize that there are certain things that I have no say over or about...... anymore or yet, depending on who we're talking about (which I'm not going to go into specific situations). Likewise, I wish certain folk (ok, so namely folk on the ex side of things) would do the same for me.
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