State jurisdiction Jurisdiction includes the power to make law (legislative jurisdiction), to interpret or apply law (adjudicative jurisdiction) and to take action to enforce law (enforcement jurisdiction). While the assertion of enforcement jurisdiction is generally limited to national territory, international law recognizes that in certain circumstances a State may legislate for, or adjudicate on, events occurring outside its territory (extraterritorial jurisdiction).
Criminal law generally recognises a number of principles allowing for the exercise of such extraterritorial jurisdiction. These include acts:
a. committed by persons having the nationality of the State (nationality or active personality principle); · committed against nationals of the State (passive personality principle;) or ·
b. affecting the security of the State (the protective principle).
While these principles require some form of link between the act committed and the State asserting jurisdiction, universal jurisdiction, a further basis for asserting extraterritorial jurisdiction, requires no such link.