Personal Jurisdiction: Court's Power to Decide On the Person Being Sued - Essay Sample

Introduction

Personal jurisdiction is the power that the court is bestowed with to decide on the person being sued. This is by some condition, which is outlined in the constitution. This means that there are situations when the court may not have the power to decide for a plaintiff, and in this case, it has no personal jurisdiction over the defendant. For example, in the analysis case, the court in Maine could have no power to pass a jurisdiction on Mary because the law requires that she must be a resident of Maine. Therefore, the district court in Maine had no persona jurisdiction over her.

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Subject matter jurisdiction in the power that the court has to handle some parties or some particular issues and not handle others. It means that there are other things that a court may not be entitled to. The difference with personal jurisdiction is that subject matter jurisdiction covers a broader range of issues while personal jurisdiction is limited to defendants only. It is safe to say that personal jurisdiction is a section of subject matter jurisdiction. For example, in the case of 2006 ME 30, the district court at Maine has no legal power to decide on the division of wealth between Mary and Wesley. Therefore, the court does not have subject matter jurisdiction over the division of wealth between Mary and Wesley.

In the case under opinion 2006 ME 30, the petitioner is the husband Wesley because he files for divorce against his wife, Mary. Wesley files for divorce against Mary in a district court in Maine, a place where he relocated and has been staying for six months. Mary, who is the respondent, denies the charges since Maine is not her residents and, therefore, rendering her not subject matter under jurisdiction.

The court has personal jurisdiction over the petitioner because Wesley has been staying in Maine for six months, which renders him a resident and thus subject to the law of Maine.

The court does not have personal jurisdiction over the respondent because she is not a resident of Maine. The law requires that everyone subject under the law must be a resident of Maine, or must have stayed for at least six months in the state.

The district court at Maine dissolved the marriage of Wesley and Mary. The rationale was that the court had the powers to grant any personal jurisdiction as long as they have stayed in good faith for at least six months before the case. This is by the statue laws of Maine, which grants Wesley the powers to proceed with the case.

The court did not divide the marital property of Wesley and Mary. This is because; it lacked subject matter to jurisdiction over the property. Therefore, this would be left for a higher court which had the power to. The rationale for this is that the property is out of Maine, and thus, the court cannot decide on it.

The Supreme Court decided the case of Wesley and Mary on divorce grounds. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court gave an opinion on the same situation. The argument is Wesley W. Von Schak vs. Mary Mulhearn Von Shack. The briefs were presented on January 24th, 2006, and decided on 30th March 2006. The decision 2006 ME 30 under docket Sag-05-326.