JURISDICTION. 342 JURISPRUDENCE. judicial ofTicer to hear and determine a cause of action, or to take cognizance of, and to exer- cise judicial power in relation to, other matters requiring such supervision and attention. It is conferred by the statutes creating and govern- ing the court or judicial office, and is confined to the limitations preserilied by such laws or reasonably to be implied therefrom. For example, if a court is created for the express purpose of hearing criminal cases, it cannot assume juris- diction over civil causes, as they are by impli- cation excluded. There is some controversy as to whetlier a court has inherent powers. This arises largely from a confusion of terms rather than a dillerence of opinion as to the source of authority of judicial tribunals. A court is often vested with general jurisdiction over a certain class of enses, and it is universally conceded that it has such powers as are incidental and requisite to the execution of the relief it is au- thorized to administer. For example, if a court is created to act as a 'court of equity.' and noth- ing further is preserilied as to the limits of its jurisdiction, it can do any act which a court hav- ing equitable jurisdiction can do under the prac- tice then commonly accepted. It.s powers in such a case are not enuinenitcd, but they are inci- dental to the general authority given. There- fore judicial tribunals have no inlierent powers outside of the jurisdiction expressly vested in them, but liave what may be described as powers incidental to the execution of their prescribed judicial functions. To render the jurisdiction of a court complete in a given case, it must have control or authority over the general subject matter of the cause of action and of the person or property (res) in- volved. The phrase 'subject matter' includes the general subject, or legal classification of rights and remedies under which the parties claim. Jurisdiction may be in personam or in rem — that is, over the person or over the thing in- volved. (See Tx Rem: In PERSOXA>r.) .Juris- diction may be made to depend on the amount in controversy as well as on the nature of the action: thus a court may have cognizance only of civil causes not involving over .$.500. The territorial jurisdiction of a court is usu- ally fixed by statute, and can in no case extend beyond the limits of the State or nation creating it. In general it may be said that a court has jurisdiction of any person who comes within its prescribed territorial limits so that its process may be served upon him, even though he be a non-resident or an alien. (See Alien : .mb-s- RADOR: DiPi.OMATTC AnEKTS.1 Some States pro- vide that their courts may take jurisdiction of certain actions even tho)i?h the defendant be without the State, and prescribe a method of service by publication of the process in news- papers, etc. ; but this does not give personal jurisdiction, and a judgment rendered in such an action only affect' such property as the de- fendant may have within the State. Most ques- tions affecting real property must be determined within the iurisdiction where the property is situated. However, a court of equity having jurisdiction over th" person of the owner of real estate may compel him to convey it if he has contracted to do so. thus affecting the ovnership of property outside its jurisdiction. Crimes are of such a local nature that a foreign court has no jurisdiction to trj* a culprit captured outside the State in which the crime was committed. Ordinary debts arising out of contract may be sued upon in the courts of any State having jurisdiction of one of the parties. Usually the judicial system of a State is so regulated that its various courts do not have concurrent jurisdiction : but when this does occur the court first a.ssuming cognizance of an action is permitted to proceed with it to a final deter- mination, and the fact that an action is pending in one court is a defense if the same cause is sued on in another. The jurisdiction of . the Federal courts in the administration of national laws is superior to that of the State courts, and where they conflict the United States courts will stay proceedings in the State courts, as in bankruptcy proceedings. The effect of lack of jurisdiction of a court over a cause of action is to render a judgment obtained therein absolutely void. Objection to this defect may be taken at any stage of the pro- ceedings. See CoiBT; Ve:«le; Conflict of L.^ws; Ix.Ti'NCTlON; DECREE; etc. Consult tbc- authorities referred to under JuHISPECDEXCE; CoxfxicT OF Laws; etc. JURISPRUDENCE (Lat. jurisprudent ia, juris prudenlia, knowledge of the law, from juris, gen. .sg. of jus, law, and prudentia, knowledge, from providere, to foresee, from pro, before -i- ridere, to see ) . ( 1 ) In ancient Rome, the word jurispnidence was used in a sense very close to its etymological meaning. Those men who were so skilled in the law (juris peril i) that they could foresee its development, declaring what the rule would be in a novel or otherwise doubtful ca.se, were termed juris prudentes : and the body of law built up by their concurrent and constant interpretation was juris prudentia. In the Re- publican period these law-finders owed their au- thority to the general recognition of tlieir knowl- edge and ability (hence juris consuiti) and not to any official position. From the time of Au- gustus they were designated by the Emperor (by bestowal of the jus respondendi) : in the follow- ing period they were drawn more and more into the direct administration of justice; and at the close of the second century nearly all the juris prudentes were judges in the modern sense of the word. In the Republican and the Imperial period alike, however, the juris prudentes developed the law by interpretation, and the juris prudentia was practically what English-speaking peoples call 'ease law.' (See Civil Law.) Both in France and in Spain the word jurisprudence ( jurisprudenee. jurisprudeveia) is still commonly employed in this sense. Abstractly, it means the judicial interpretation of the law: in the con- crete it often designates a collection of decisions, or, as we say. 'reports.' In English, also, the word is sometimes used in this sense, as when we speak of 'equity jurisprudence.' (2) More commonly, however, especially in modem times. English-speaking peoples use the word jurispnidence to describe what was often called, at an earlier period, philosophy of law, and what Continental writers now call the 'theory' or the 'science' of the law. An English treatise on jurisnnideucc. nr on the 'science' or 'principles' of lav,-, undertakes to determine what law is. i.e. what are (he essential elements in our conception of law; what relation law bears to the
