ABSTRACT
The challenge in determining if and when courts have jurisdiction over activities conducted on the Internet would not be great if the Internet were confined to a single geographical area, or if it were neatly divisible along territorial boundaries into distinct local networks. In order for a national court to adjudicate criminal and regulatory sanctions internationally, there must be some connection, or nexus, between the regulating nation and the crime or criminal. The most basic and common jurisdictional nexus is the territoriality nexus. The right of a country to exercise jurisdiction based on the nationality of a defendant is universally recognized. A country is assumed to have nearly unlimited control of its nationals, so its "treatment of its nationals is not ordinarily a matter of concern to other States or to international law". Continental European courts, as well as courts in other civil law countries, regularly rely on the protective nexus in assuming jurisdiction over foreign defendants.
