Jurisdiction in international law refers to the regulatory authority of a State, as manifested in its power to prescribe, adjudicate and enforce the law. Every time a State sends its armed forces into the territory of another State, their presence engages the jurisdiction of the Sending State and that of the Receiving State. Resolving the conflict that arises from this overlap of regulatory authority represents one of the enduring problems of the law of visiting forces.
This contribution, written by Paul J. Conderman and Aurel Sari, to the second edition of Dieter Fleck’s The Handbook of the Law of Visiting Forces provides a detailed account of the exercise of criminal and administrative jurisdiction over visiting forces.
