Jurisdiction, powers and immunities

Jan Klabbers

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139022569.008

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5 - Jurisdiction, powers and immunities

from Part I - The structure of international law

Jan Klabbers

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Jan Klabbers: Affiliation:
University of Helsinki

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

States, being sovereign, can in principle do within their territories as they please: they can legislate as they please, they can prosecute anyone who violates their laws and they can lock up anyone who commits a crime. In international law language, it is often said that states have jurisdiction over their territories, and that this jurisdiction is, in principle, exclusive and unlimited.

In practice, needless to say, things are not quite as dramatic. While it is true to say that states enjoy jurisdiction, they sometimes have to compete with other states to be able to prosecute the same acts. Moreover, historically the practice has been built that states shall not subject other states and their representatives to their jurisdiction; hence the existence of state immunity (or sovereign immunity) and of diplomatic privileges and immunities. This chapter will address the jurisdiction of states as well as the functional equivalent of the powers of international organizations; jurisdiction and powers help determine what it is that states and international organizations are legally entitled to do, and are therefore indispensable complements to the discussion in the previous chapter.

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Type: Chapter
Information: International Law , pp. 91 - 106

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139022569.008 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2013

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