jurisdiction
(dʒʊərɪsˈdɪkʃən)
Forms: 4–6 iure-, (4 iuri-, iurdiccion), 4–7 iurisdiccion, etc. (with usual interchange of i and y, cc and ct, on and oun), 5 iurisdycion, 7– jurisdiction.
[orig. a. OF. jure-, juri-, jurdiction, -dicion (F. juridiction), ad. L. jūrisdictiōn-em, f. jūris, gen. of jūs law + dictio, n. of action f. dīcere to say, declare. Subsequently assimilated to the L. form, which was also used in F. in the 17–18th cents.]
1. Administration of justice; exercise of judicial authority, or of the functions of a judge or legal tribunal; power of declaring and administering law or justice; legal authority or power.
| [1267 Act 52 Hen. III, c. 2 (Stat. Marleberge) Qui non sit de feodo suo, aut super ipsum habeat jurisdictionem per Hundredam vel ballivam que sua sit.] a 1300 Cursor M. 26324 He [a priest] has his iurediction tint o þis man al wit resun. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 265 Þes wordis of Crist meneþ two juridicciouns, as spiritual and seculer. c 1386 Chaucer Friar's T. 21 Thanne hadde he thurgh his Iurisdiccion [MS. Petw. -diction, Harl. iurediccioun, Camb., Corp., Lansd. iurdiccion, -diction, -e] Power to doon on hem correccion. 1395 Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 30 Neithir the king, neithir his justisis han jurisdiccioun on clerkis, trespace thei nevere so moche. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxix. 111 Whan som body hathe submytted hymself..to the iurisdicyon of some Iuge [etc.]. 1509 Hawes Conv. Swearers 10 By pryncely preemynence and Iuredyccyon. 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 170 In admynystratyon of justyce..in such thyngys as they had jurysdycyon of. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 246 Ecclesiasticall persones, should not..exercise iurisdiccion, or any kynd of aucthoritie in temporall matters. c 1670 Hobbes Dial. Comm. Laws (1677) 153 To declare the Law, which is not Judgment, but Jurisdiction. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 431 The nobility of the district of Padua had formerly the criminal jurisdiction, as it is called, over their vassals. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India II. 129 The districts..were not intended to be exempted from the jurisdiction of the Company's officers. 1863 H. Cox Instit. iii. iv. 640 The Chief Justiciar..had general jurisdiction of pleas civil and criminal. 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xix. (1875) 343 Free from all jurisdiction of the Pope or any Catholic prelate. 1892 F. T. Pigott (title) Exterritoriality: the law relating to Consular Jurisdiction. 1896 Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 690/1 This court has no jurisdiction over the property in America. |
| fig. 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) 128 If wee will faine a perfect Logician..all the Sciences..appertaine to his iurisdiction. |
2. Power or authority in general; administration, rule, control.
| c 1425 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 480 Euery other thyng in whom Dame Nature Hath any iurysdiccion. 1433 ― St. Edmund ii. 929 For God hath power and Iurysdiccioun Make tongis speke of bodies that be ded. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 319 To live exempt From Heav'n's high jurisdiction. 1756–82 J. Warton Ess. Pope II. ix. 113 The tranquillity and ease of the mind, depend upon a thousand things that are not under our jurisdiction. 1860 Marsh Eng. Lang. xii. 261 Man's language is higher than himself..and still less subject than he to the jurisdiction of the laws of material nature. |
3. The extent or range of judicial or administrative power; the territory over which such power extends.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 57 Prelatis letten & forbeden prestis to preche þe gospel in here iurdiccion or bischoperiche, but ȝif þei han leue & letteris of hem. 1474 Caxton Chesse iv. iv. K viij, The Iuge ought to deffende and kepe the labourers and possessyons which ben in his Iurisdyccion by al right and lawe. 1555 Eden Decades 23 In al this tracte, they passed throwgh the Iurisdiction of other princes. 1632 Lithgow Trav. 25 The other sequestrate Tuscan jurisdiction, is the little comonwealth of Luca. 1770 Connect. Col. Rec. (1885) XIII. 399 Resolved that the said lines..shall be the jurisdiction lines..between the said towns. 1833 H. Martineau Charmed Sea ii. 15 Whether he should not send on this procession, and keep the next that might arrive within his jurisdiction. 1833 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. [III.] i. i. 4 Basil's care of the churches..extended far beyond the limits of his own jurisdiction. |
| fig. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. xii. 191 God hath..permitted the sea sometimes to breake his appointed limits, and inuade the Iurisdiction of the land. 1671 R. Bohun Wind 91 They [winds] never cease blowing within their own jurisdiction. |
4. A judicial organization; a judicature; a court, or series of courts, of justice.
| 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. Introd. §3. 79 Peculiar laws..adopted and used only in certain peculiar courts and jurisdictions. Ibid. I. vii. 242 No jurisdiction upon earth has power to try him in a criminal way. 1821 J. Q. Adams in Davies Metric Syst. iii. (1871) 269 The jurisdictions to which resort must be had..are those of municipal police. 1878 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. II. v. 67 The abolition of hereditary jurisdictions. |