Deciphering Cyberspace Jurisdiction: Evaluating Legal Jurisdictional Tests

Cyberspace makes possible cross border transactions giving rise to a number of problems between parties miles apart. The national laws only sometimes have extra-territorial operation which expands its jurisdiction beyond territorial and sovereign boundaries of the nation which becomes a problem in the case of the Internet which does not recognize territorial or sovereign limitations. There is an absence of any universally applicable uniform international law on jurisdiction and the courts to solve this problem have devised a number of tests. Though the previous research papers on the subject have highlighted the tests formulated by the courts in various commonwealth countries, they have been unable to highlight the underlying significance and rationale for the shifts in the approach, primarily driven by the evolution of the internet and the advancement of the technology. The courts in India have largely traced the outlines left by the US courts. The courts have time and again struggled to balance the rights of the plaintiff and defendant in terms of prescribing a suitable forum. This paper attempts to make an analysis of the approach taken by the courts worldwide. This paper at last suggests some pragmatic methods with a new test or approach in line with the latest technological methods to solve the dilemma of the courts worldwide.