ABSTRACT
In international law, the concept of jurisdiction is closely related to the doctrine of sovereignty. From state sovereignty also derives the concept of state immunity. On the other hand, both these concepts (jurisdiction and state immunity) are rooted in the general principle of law – one sovereign power cannot exercise jurisdiction over another sovereign power. The contemporary states enjoy jurisdiction over places and persons, which are the two distinct dimensions of the jurisdiction. However, although the territoriality and nationality principles primarily and predominantly determine jurisdiction, it is not inevitably and exclusively so. The extension of jurisdiction commonly may occur abroad, when a state assumes jurisdiction on the basis that the behaviour of a party is producing effects within its territory. At the same time, the extraterritorial jurisdiction may be claimed on the grounds of such principles as the nationality/active personality principle (conduct performed by the state’s nationals), the passive personality principle (conduct having the state’s nationals as its victims), the protective principle (conduct directed against a state’s ‘vital interests’), or the principle of universal jurisdiction (conduct recognised by the interstate system to be of ‘universal concern’).
