Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Jurisdiction definition

What does Jurisdiction mean? Jurisdiction, in legal practice, describes a court’s power to hear and determine a dispute and the limits of that power, both by subject matter and by the territory over which the court’s authority extends. It encompasses personal jurisdiction over the parties (often based on service, presence, domicile or consent, including exclusive jurisdiction clauses) and the court’s territorial and subject‑matter competence. The term is descriptive rather than fixed by a single definition; its scope is set by statute, rules of court, international instruments and case law (for example, the Senior Courts Act 1981, the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments...

Restraining Departure from England and Wales: Writ ne exeat regno and passport seizure orders—jurisdiction, criteria, procedure and limits in family and enforcement proceedings

Published by a LexisNexis Family expert

Practice notes

Where a party seeks to enforce an order, and the Respondent plans to depart the court’s Jurisdiction and thereby impede Enforcement, a writ ne exeat regno, or a passport seizure order, may be pursued. In children proceedings, such an order may be made where there are concerns about abduction or to secure a child’s return; see also PrACTice Note: Child abduction—emergency remedies—Passport order. Mostyn J in Bhura v Bhura described the writ ne exeat regno as a ‘charming historical relic’ and ‘an anachronism given the availability of the modern form of order [the passport seizure order]’. In Re P (Discharge of Passport Order), Cobb J characterised a passport seizure order as ‘a potent order, with significant implications, whose use it seems to me should be tightly controlled’ and therefore such orders should only be made for a finite period of time.

Writ ne exeat regno

The provisions of section 19(2)(b) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 subsume the High Court’s jurisdiction to grant this prerogative writ. The purpose and effect of a writ ne exeat regno is to restrain a party from leaving the jurisdiction where...

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David Salter

David Salter has enjoyed a varied career in family law with over 45 years’ experience. He served as National Head of Family Law at Addleshaw Goddard and, subsequently, as Joint National Head of Family Law at Mills & Reeve, retiring in 2018.From 1997-1999, David was Chairman of Resolution, also acting as the first Chairman of Resolution’s Accreditation Committee. He subsequently became President of the International Academy of Family Lawyers from 2010 to 2012, having previously served as the Academy's European Chapter President.He has sat in various part-time judicial posts since 1985 sitting regularly as a deputy High Court judge and Recorder in the Family Court until March 2022. He now conducts private financial dispute resolution appointments.David was one of the original members of the Family Procedure Rules Committee which framed the 2010 Rules, serving a ten-year term from 2004 to 2014.He is a...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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