Legal Definitions - praescriptio fori

Praescriptio fori refers to a legal objection raised by a party in a lawsuit, asserting that the specific court where the case has been filed lacks the proper authority or power (known as jurisdiction) to hear the case against that particular party. Essentially, it's an argument that the court does not have the legal right to make a decision that would bind the objecting party.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a resident of California is sued in a New York state court for a contract dispute that arose and was performed entirely in California, and the Californian has no business or personal ties to New York. The Californian could raise a praescriptio fori objection, arguing that the New York court lacks personal jurisdiction over them because they have insufficient connections to New York. The New York court would not have the authority to compel the Californian to appear or to enforce a judgment against them.

• Consider a scenario where a private citizen attempts to sue a foreign embassy in a local municipal court for a parking ticket dispute. The foreign embassy could invoke praescriptio fori, asserting that the municipal court lacks jurisdiction due to principles of sovereign immunity. These principles generally protect foreign governments and their diplomatic missions from being sued in domestic courts without their consent. The municipal court is not the proper "forum" for such a claim.

• Suppose a company files a lawsuit in a small claims court, seeking millions of dollars in damages for a complex intellectual property infringement. The defendant company could raise a praescriptio fori objection. Small claims courts typically have a monetary limit on the damages they can award and are designed for simpler disputes, not complex, high-value intellectual property cases. The defendant would argue that the small claims court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear a case of that nature and value, and therefore is not the appropriate forum.