Jurisdiction and the Courts

Jurisdiction & The Courts
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Jurisdiction & The Courts
Jurisdiction refers to the authority of a court to hear and decide a given case, and in the criminal law justice system, this authority includes the powers of a court to impose punishments. This concept is often referred to as territorial jurisdiction, which is the specific powers of a court to bind the parties to the action. The legal concept of jurisdiction is important for the operation of American courts as it determines the scope of courts’ power to hear and decide cases based on their federal or state laws (Salman, 2018). The federal and state laws as well as the Constitutions of the United States have laws that define the powers of the state and federal courts to hear cases. These laws also limit the courts to hear and decide specific cases. Such jurisdictions are important because if a certain court has no power over a given case, then it will not have the legal authority to pass a judgment on the case. For a court to have a binding judgment ...