JURISDICTION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does jurisdiction mean? 

• JURISDICTION (noun)
  The noun JURISDICTION has 2 senses:

1. (law) the right and power to interpret and apply the law

2. in law; the territory within which power can be exercised

  Familiarity information: JURISDICTION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• JURISDICTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(law) the right and power to interpret and apply the law

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

jurisdiction; legal power

Context example:

courts having jurisdiction in this district

Hypernyms ("jurisdiction" is a kind of...):

power; powerfulness (possession of controlling influence)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In law; the territory within which power can be exercised

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("jurisdiction" is a kind of...):

district; dominion; territorial dominion; territory (a region marked off for administrative or other purposes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "jurisdiction"):

abbacy (the jurisdiction or office of an abbot)

archbishopric (the territorial jurisdiction of an archbishop)

archdeaconry (the territorial jurisdiction of an archdeacon)

bailiwick (the area over which a bailiff has jurisdiction)

caliphate (the territorial jurisdiction of a caliph)

bishopric; diocese; episcopate (the territorial jurisdiction of a bishop)

justiciary (the jurisdiction of a justiciar)

turf (range of jurisdiction or influence)

parish (the local subdivision of a diocese committed to one pastor)

patriarchate (the jurisdiction of a patriarch)

venue (in law: the jurisdiction where a trial will be held)

viceroyalty (a district or province governed by a viceroy)

Derivation:

jurisdictional (restricted to the geographic area under a particular jurisdiction)

 Context examples 

“My jurisdiction ends at that ditch, sir,” said he.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Specific grounds for annullment vary within the presiding jurisdiction, whether geographic or religious.

(Annulled, NCI Thesaurus)

Persons who are not U.S. citizens but who owe permanent allegiance to the U.S. They originate from places under U.S. sovereignty, jurisdiction, or administration, i.e. American Samoa, Swains Island.

(Non-Citizen National, NCI Thesaurus)

Another writ has been issued (in His Majesty's High Court of King's Bench at Westminster), in another cause of HEEP V. MICAWBER, and the defendant in that cause is the prey of the sheriff having legal jurisdiction in this bailiwick.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But if my colleague of Hampshire has no scruples about its being brought off within his jurisdiction, I should very much like to see the fight, with which he spurred his horse up an adjacent knoll, from which he thought that he might gain the best view of the proceedings.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What the Admiralty was to me that day; what nonsense I made of our case in my mind, as I listened to it; how I saw DORA engraved upon the blade of the silver oar which they lay upon the table, as the emblem of that high jurisdiction; and how I felt when Mr. Spenlow went home without me (I had had an insane hope that he might take me back again), as if I were a mariner myself, and the ship to which I belonged had sailed away and left me on a desert island; I shall make no fruitless effort to describe.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)