Also known as: extraterritorium · extraterritorial
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A Latin phrase denoting activity, regulation, or judicial power occurring beyond the geographic boundaries of the sovereign or state asserting authority. The phrase identifies the doctrinal limit on a state's ability to project its laws into transactions or conduct occurring wholly in other jurisdictions.
Empire Logistics, an out-of-state distributor, sells beer to retailers in multiple states. A state statute requires Empire to certify that its in-state prices are no higher than those charged anywhere else. Empire must either raise prices in other states or lose access to the regulating state's market, demonstrating how the law reaches transactions occurring wholly outside the state's borders.
Ezra Eastman, a nonresident, owns shares in a Delaware corporation. A plaintiff files suit in Delaware and seizes the shares to establish jurisdiction over claims arising entirely outside Delaware. The seizure attempts to assert power over property and conduct located beyond the forum's territory.
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Enigma Technologies, a British firm, agrees abroad with other insurers to limit coverage in the United States. California sues for antitrust violations based solely on that foreign agreement. The suit seeks to apply state law to commercial arrangements formed and performed entirely outside California.
Echo Systems, a domestic exporter, sells aircraft parts to a foreign government. Congress authorizes the President to prohibit such sales when they threaten neutrality. The proclamation regulates conduct by U.S. firms that occurs beyond the nation's borders.
Evelyn Ellison, a foreign national, sues a foreign corporation in U.S. court for conduct occurring entirely on foreign soil. The claims rest on events that took place outside any U.S. territory and lack a sufficient domestic nexus.
Equinox Energy, a German parent corporation, maintains no operations in California. Plaintiffs sue in California over events that occurred abroad. The attempt to hale the parent into court rests on contacts located entirely outside the forum state.
A statute is impermissibly extraterritorial when it conditions access to the in-state market on how a seller prices or conducts business in other states. The practical effect is to control transactions occurring wholly outside the regulating state's borders.
No. Even in the alcohol context the amendment does not authorize a state to project its regulatory power into other states by tying in-state prices to out-of-state prices.
A forum state need not enforce the injunctive portion of a foreign judgment when enforcement would require ongoing supervision of real property located in another state or would directly contradict the forum's fundamental public policy concerning land use.
The doctrine permits a state to favor its residents only in the immediate transaction in which it participates. Conditions that regulate separate, downstream markets occurring outside the state remain subject to dormant Commerce Clause review.
…within the State, a judgment could affect his interest in property outside the State. But any attempt "directly" to assert extraterritorial jurisdiction over persons or property would offend sister States and exceed the inherent limits of the State's power. A judgment resulting from such an attempt, Mr. Justice Field concluded,…