Bevoegdheidsincident
Jurisdictional incident
A jurisdictional incident is an incidental claim whereby a party challenges the absolute or relative jurisdiction of the court.
A jurisdictional incident arises in civil proceedings when the defendant challenges the jurisdiction of the court seized. This may concern absolute jurisdiction, such as the question whether the matter falls within the competence of the subdistrict court or the district court, or relative jurisdiction, such as the judicial district in which the case is to be heard.
This incident is relevant because the court must first determine whether it has jurisdiction before it may consider the case on its merits. A successful jurisdictional incident may result in referral to another court or in the claim being declared inadmissible.
In practice, a jurisdictional incident is usually raised in the statement of defence, after which the claimant may respond.
“The defendant raised a jurisdictional objection in his statement of defence, on the ground that, in his view, the Rotterdam District Court lacked relative jurisdiction.”
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