Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 4, 2021

 

From Extraterritoriality to Extraterritorial Regulation: A Jurisdiction Theory Perspective

(Abstract)

 

Qu Wensheng

 

Jurisdiction and sovereignty are key concepts in the lineage of international law. The separation of jurisdiction and sovereignty determines or affects the evolution of the world order. In the era of great geographical discoveries, the Treaty of Tordesillas established a global extension of jurisdiction, but Spain and Portugal did not achieve real jurisdiction over the land masses and islands they discovered; the Westphalian system initially established a territorial order under which a country’s jurisdiction began to correspond to its sovereign territorial boundaries; and in the colonial era, the European powers represented by Britain separated jurisdiction and sovereignty through extraterritoriality, leading to the coexistence of the Westphalian sovereignty order and the imperial order. In the era of globalization, transnational issues arise frequently. Extraterritorial regulation has become a tool for the United States’ unilateral handling of extraterritorial issues, in a unilateral order that coexists with the international legal order established after World War II and based on the United Nations Charter. Today’s world is undergoing unprecedented major changes not seen for a century. Extraterritorial regulations based on unilateralism, protectionism, and hegemonism pose a threat to world peace and development. Reexamining jurisdiction theory enables us to implement extraterritorial regulation based on community jurisdiction theory; extend jurisdiction in a predictable and acceptable way; build a community jurisdiction mechanism of mutual recognition, mutual trust, and reciprocity; provide convincing plans for jurisdiction outside community jurisdiction arrangements; and ultimately promote the construction of a Community of Shared Future for Mankind.