Jurisdiction

JURISDICTION, in ordinary lan guage and law: (1) The legal power, right, or authority of administering jus tice; the legal power which a court of equity has of deciding cases brought and tried before it; the legal right by which judges exercise their authority; judicial authority over a cause. (2) The power or right of governing or legis lating; the power or right of exercising authority, or of making and enforcing laws. (3) The extent to which such au thority extends; the district within which such power may be exercised. Appellate jurisdiction, jurisdiction in cases of ap peal from inferior courts. Original jur isdiction, the legal right of hearing and determining a case in the first instance, In Roman Catholic theology, ecclesi astical jurisdiction is defined as the "power which is concerned with the wor ship of God and the salvation of souls, and is exercised in foro externo as well as in foro inferno." By commission from

the Supreme Pontiff, whose powers, theo logians teach, are derived from Christ through Peter, are constituted legates, patriarchs, primates, and prelates; by law or canon, rectors of universities, superiors of convents, provosts, and vicars-general receive their jurisdiction: and a jurisdiction exercised without challenge for 40 years is valid by pre scription. To absolve a penitent, juris diction is necessary. Secular priests ob tain this from their bishops; but con fessors belonging to the regular orders have jurisdiction from the Pope over all the faithful when they have obtained the approbation of the bishop. A penitent in artielelo mortis may be validly ab solved, even in reserved cases, by a sim ple priest, even if degraded, apostate, or irregular. In ordin a ry cases,.absolutien given by a priest without jurisdiction is void.