The territorial principle (also territoriality principle) is a principle of

public international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

which enables a

sovereign state A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...

to exercise exclusive

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

over individuals and other legal persons within its territory. It includes both the right to prosecute individuals for criminal offences committed within its borders, as well as the right to arrest and apprehend individuals within its territory. Its corollary bars states from exercising jurisdiction within the territory of other states without their express consent, unless such an exercise can be based on other principles of jurisdiction, such as the principle of nationality, the

passive personality principle Passive may refer to: * Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive (disambiguation), Pseudopassive * Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works * Passivity (behavior), the condition of su ...

, the protective principle, and possibly, the principle of

universal jurisdiction Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows Sovereign state, states or International organization, international organizations to prosecute individuals for serious crimes, such as genocide, War crime, war crimes, and crimes against hu ...

. The ''Lotus'' case was a key court ruling on the territoriality principle. In 1926, a French vessel collided with a Turkish vessel, causing the death of several Turkish nationals. The

Permanent Court of International Justice The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, existed from 1922 to 1946. It was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1920 (although the idea of an international court was several cent ...

ruled, by a bare majority, that Turkey had jurisdiction to try the French naval lieutenant for

criminal negligence In criminal law, criminal negligence is an offence that involves a breach of an objective standard of behaviour expected of a defendant. It may be contrasted with strictly liable offences, which do not consider states of mind in determining c ...

, even though the incident happened beyond Turkey's boundaries. This case extended the territoriality principle to cover cases that happen outside a state's boundaries, but have a substantial effect on the state's interests or involve its citizens. Questions have surfaced regarding how the territoriality principle applies with the rise of

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

and the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. The applicability of this principle was in question with the case against

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

and other cases of transnational justice.

References

{{Authority control Legal doctrines and principles International law Jurisdiction

See also

References