Word.ws English Dictionary

universal jurisdiction

universal jurisdiction noun: a principle whereby a state claims legal jurisdiction over persons whose alleged crimes were committed outside the boundaries of the prosecuting state, regardless of the accused's nationality, country of residence, or other relationship with the prosecuting country.

Noun

universal jurisdiction (uncountable)

  1. (international law) A principle whereby a state claims legal jurisdiction over persons whose alleged crimes were committed outside the boundaries of the prosecuting state, regardless of the accused's nationality, country of residence, or other relationship with the prosecuting country.
    • "Amnesty International’s legal memorandum, Universal Jurisdiction: the duty of states to enact and implement legislation, documents more than 125 states that have universal jurisdiction over at least one of the crimes. The organization is campaigning for all states to enact universal jurisdiction...

Questions about universal jurisdiction

What does universal jurisdiction mean?
Universal jurisdiction means a principle whereby a state claims legal jurisdiction over persons whose alleged crimes were committed outside the boundaries of the prosecuting state, regardless of the accused's nationality, country of residence, or other relationship with the prosecuting country.
What part of speech is universal jurisdiction?
Universal jurisdiction is a noun.

Words near universal jurisdiction in the dictionary

  1. universal grinders
  2. universal instrument
  3. universal instruments
  4. universal joint
  5. universal joints
  6. universal jurisdiction
  7. universal language
  8. universal languages
  9. universal lever
  10. universal levers
  11. universal logic gate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: universal jurisdiction (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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