The types of judicial jurisdiction
Every
valid exercise of judicial jurisdiction, as here defined, affects the
interests of persons. It is possible, however, to affect the interests
of persons in different ways. And the bases of judicial jurisdiction
that a state must have in order to affect a person's interests in one
way may be different from those required to permit the state to affect
these interests in another way. To some extent these differences are
reflected in the traditional differentiation between: (1) personal
jurisdiction, (2) jurisdiction in rem and (3) jurisdiction quasi in rem.
(a)
Personal jurisdiction. A state must have personal jurisdiction over a
defendant in order to impose upon him through its courts a personal
liability or obligation in favor of the plaintiff. A common example of
such a personal obligation is a judgment rendered in an action to
recover a debt or damages for a breach of contract or for a tort, which
imposes upon the defendant an obligation to pay a sum of money to the
plaintiff. This judgment may be enforced by the seizure by a public
officer of any property of the defendant in the state which is then
owned or thereafter acquired by him and which is subject to execution.
Such a judgment, moreover, makes the defendant a debtor to the
plaintiff for the amount of the judgment, and an action to recover this
debt may be maintained by the plaintiff against the defendant either in
the same state or in another state.
If a state has personal
jurisdiction over the defendant, it may likewise render a judgment
through its courts which directs him either to do an act other than pay
money to the plaintiff or to refrain from doing an act. Judgments of
this sort are commonly rendered in equitable proceedings. They may be
enforced by punishing the defendant for contempt of court if he refuses
or neglects to obey the order of the court, or the defendant's property
may be seized by an officer of the court.
The bases for the
exercise of personal jurisdiction are considered in ... this Chapter.
Where such a basis exists, the state is said to have jurisdiction in
personam, and the proceeding is said to be a proceeding in personam.
(b)
Jurisdiction in rem. Sometimes the purpose of an action is not to
impose a personal liability or obligation upon anyone but to affect the
interests of all persons in a thing. If so, the state may render
through its courts a valid judgment where it has jurisdiction over the
thing even though it may not have personal jurisdiction over the
persons whose interests are affected. In such a case the state is said
to have jurisdiction in rem and the proceeding is said to be a
proceeding in rem. One example is a judgment rendered by a court of
admiralty affecting the interests of all persons in a vessel which is
subject to the jurisdiction of the state. Another example is a
statutory proceeding brought to register title to certain land and
which is designed to affect the interests of all persons in the land. A
third example is a statutory proceeding for the forfeiture to the
government and the extinguishment of the interests of all persons in a
thing used in violation of the revenue or other laws. The bases for the
exercise of jurisdiction in rem are considered in ...this Chapter.
(c)
Jurisdiction quasi in rem. The purpose of an action may not be to
impose a personal liability or obligation upon anyone and not to affect
the interests of all persons in a thing, but to affect the interests of
particular persons in a thing. If so, the state may render through its
courts a valid judgment when it has jurisdiction over the thing even
though it may not have personal jurisdiction over the persons whose
interests are affected. In such a case the state is said to have
jurisdiction quasi in rem and the proceeding is said to be a proceeding
quasi in rem.
A judgment quasi in rem, like a judgment in rem,
affects interests in a thing; but unlike a judgment in rem it affects
the interests of only particular persons in the thing and not the
interests of all persons in the thing. It differs from a personal
judgment in that it does not impose a personal liability or obligation
upon anyone. The bases for the exercise of jurisdiction quasi in rem
are considered in ... this Chapter.
There are two types of
proceedings quasi in rem. In both of them the jurisdiction of the state
is based on power over the thing and the effect of the judgment is to
affect interests of particular persons in the thing.
In the
first type the plaintiff is seeking to establish a pre-existing
interest in the thing and to extinguish, or to establish the
non-existence of, interests of particular persons in the thing. Of this
type are actions for the partition of land, actions to quiet title and
actions for the foreclosure of a mortgage where the state has no
jurisdiction over the person of the defendant but does have
jurisdiction over the land.
In the second type the plaintiff is
not seeking to establish a pre-existing interest in the thing but is
seeking to enforce a personal claim against the defendant by applying
the thing to the satisfaction of the claim. Of this type are actions to
recover damages for breach of contract or for tort begun by attachment
or garnishment or creditors' bill, where the state has no jurisdiction
over the person of the defendant but has jurisdiction over a thing
belonging to the defendant or over a person who is in possession of a
thing belonging to the defendant or is indebted or under a duty to the
defendant.