Module 14: Discussion
As we all know, E-Commerce and business conducted completely online have rapidly changed our concept of domicile, and modern trends considering domicile have worked to address those changes. This is considered and discussed through the concept of “technical domicile”. This allows a situation where a (legal) person may leave the jurisdiction for decades and plan never to return but remains in the person’s domicile until they purposefully establish another domicile. If you had a client that originally domiciled themselves in KSA but has since moved (physically) out of KSA, has remained out of KSA for 25 years. Further, presume that the client has only sent products from abroad into KSA via orders from an online company that the client operates from overseas and is now being sued in KSA on a product liability claim. Could you challenge a lawsuit brought against him in KSA based on the personal jurisdiction of the court to hear the claim?
Legal Jurisdiction On Domiciled Citizens
Yes, one can challenge the product liability lawsuit against the client who originally domiciled themselves in KSA. Legally, the client’s domicile which in this case is KSA is the location where the client is to declare their legal documents (Kagan, 2022). Also, the client’s domicile carries legal consequences for the client. This is because it has defined the country. State and the courts that have the jurisdiction to adjudicate in lawsuits among handling other legal concerns.
Despite the client living outside KSA for over 25 years and just ships the products into the country, the client’s domicile was not changed to another preferred physical location. A person can only have one domicile at a time. There is no time in which the client made any efforts to change their domicile. Thus, KSA remained his domicile even when he did not live in the country for a long time. In the event that the client has acquired a domicile of choice, then the latter would have been their domicile until they again choose to abandon it through relocation to a new domicile with the bonafide intention of making this new domicile to be their fixed and permanent home.
The client has not made his new place his domicile of choice. Therefore, the product liability case against the client in KSA could be challenged since it is in his domicile country that the respective courts have jurisdictions to listen to the case.
References
Kagan, J. (2022). Domicile definition. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/domicile.asp
