Jurisdiction
in ordinary language and law: (1) The legal power, right, or authority of administering justice; the legal power which a court of and tried before it; the legal right by which judges exercise their authority; judicial authority over a cause. ( ) The power or right of governing or legislating; the power or right of exercising authority, or of making and enforcing laws. (3) The extent to which such authority extends; the district within which such power may be exercised. Appellate jurisdiction, jurisdiction in cases of appeal from inferior courts. Original jurisdiction, the legal right of hearing and determining a case in the first instance .
In Roman Catholic theology, ecclesiastical jurisdiction is defined as the "power which is concerned with the worship of God and the salvation of souls , and is exercised in foro externo as well as in foro interno." By commission from the Supreme Pontiff, whose powers, theologians teach, are derived from Christ through Peter, are constituted legates, patriarchs, primates, and prelates; by superiors of convents, provosts, and vicars-general receive their jurisdiction; and a jurisdiction exercised without challenge for 40 years is valid by prescription. To absolve a penitent, jurisdiction is necessary. Secular priests obtain this from their bishops; but confessors belonging to the regular orders have jurisdiction from the Pope over all the faithful when they have obtained the approbation of the bishop. A penitent in articulo mortis may be validly absolved, even in reserved cases, by a simple priest, even if degraded, apostate, or irregular. In ordinary cases, absolution given by a priest without jurisdiction is void. or canon, rectors of universities,