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Long Arm Statutes

A statute which purports to regulate persons outside of its territorial jurisdiction.

 

The extra-territorial jurisdiction of a Court notwithstanding that a person does not reside within the territory, but upon that person, because of some event which by its nature, extends the Court's jurisdiction to beyond.

Each court is bound to a territorial jurisdiction and does not normally have jurisdiction over persons that reside outside of that jurisdiction. For example, a court in Scotland would not normally have jurisdiction over a resident of Ireland. Long-arm statutes are a tool which gives a court jurisdiction over a person even though the person does not or no longer resides in the territory limits of the court.

For example, UIFSA allows a court to have jurisdiction over a non-resident support payor.

Although jurisdictions differ on points of detail as to the extent of personal or commercial contact required before a person might be captured within a state's judicial jurisdiction under the tentacles of long-arm jurisdiction, a person who transacts business, owns property, enters a state's territory or commits a tort or a crime on the territory while passing through, expose themselves to long-arm jurisdiction.


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Unless otherwise noted, this article was written by Lloyd Duhaime, Barrister, Solicitor, Attorney and Lawyer (and Notary Public!). It is not intended to be legal advice and you would be foolhardy to rely on it in respect to any specific situation you or an acquaintance may be facing. In addition, the law changes rapidly and sometimes with little notice so from time to time, an article may not be up to date. Therefore, this is merely legal information designed to educate the reader. If you have a real situation, this information will serve as a good springboard to get legal advice from a lawyer.

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