Study On The Jurisdiction Of American E-commerce Contract Litigation

The developments of the Internet and communication technology, not only changed the contact way of human, but also expend the living space of people from the reality of the physical world to the virtual network space, and made the social economy and people’s life style upside down. The rise and rapid development of e-commerce is one of the significant signs. Because of the characteristics of Internet, like transnational, global, freedom, diversity and virtual, the disputes aroused by electronic commerce contract are very different from those traditional disputes in many ways, the traditional jurisdiction encountered new challenges for the e-commerce contract case. Therefore, in the face of the impact of the electronic commerce to the traditional jurisdiction, we should take measures to cope with new situation on the jurisdiction. The USA has quite rich experience and mature theory system in jurisdiction issues of e-commerce. This article mainly studies on the method of adjusting the dispute of the traditional jurisdiction rules to apply e-commerce, and thorough analysis the validity of the contractual jurisdiction and the establishment basis and criterion of the long-arm jurisdiction. Then according to our country’s current rules and judicial practice in e-commerce contract jurisdiction, to propose suggestions to perfect our country electronic commerce contract jurisdiction. Specifically, the article is divided into four chapters to discuss:The first chapter is an overview of jurisdiction of e-commerce contract. First, introducing the concepts and features of e-commerce contract. The nature of Internet is the root cause for e-commerce contract different from the traditional contract, and thus caused challenges to traditional jurisdiction. Then, the article introduced the impact of electronic commerce contract to the traditional jurisdiction basis from three aspects. Faced with this situation, the author puts forward that we should draw lessons from the United States in the field of electronic commerce legislation and judicial practice, and through adjusting and correcting the traditional jurisdiction standards so as to adapt to the electronic commerce contract dispute under the Internet environment.The second chapter is about the adjustment of contractual jurisdiction rules. First of all, introducing the applicable situation of the contractual jurisdiction in e-commerce contract in the United States. Then this paper analyzes the basis of contractual jurisdiction in the e-commerce contract, that is the validity of contractual jurisdiction clause. The first is the formal validity of the contractual jurisdiction clause. The contents of contractual jurisdiction clause appeared in the electronic contract shall conform to the requirements of clarity and significant. The second is the essential validity of the contractual jurisdiction clause. The contents of the contractual jurisdiction clause shall conform to the principle of fairness, rationality and protect the interests of the weak, and not to violate the public policy and mandatory provisions of the state.The third chapter is about the long-arm jurisdiction rules applicable in e-commerce contract. Long-arm jurisdiction is the development of the special personal jurisdiction in the United States. It requires minimum contacts between the defendant and the court, and not to violate fair play and substantial justice that required by the due process. This paper analyzes the criterion of minimum contacts, and defines the correlation and the rationality and purposeful use, and to discusses the analysis method of the long-arm jurisdiction to apply in the e-commerce contract. Aiming at the shortcomings of the sliding scale analysis method, further activity analysis method is proposed.The fourth chapter is about the present situation and perfection of the jurisdiction of the China’s e-commerce contract. First of all, introducing China’s existing rules of e-commerce contract jurisdiction, and the differences in decided the effectiveness of e-commerce contractual jurisdiction clause in the judicial practice. Combining with the above introduction and analysis, the author puts forward the advice to perfect our country’s e-commerce contract jurisdiction, and hoping to help in this aspect of legislation and judicial practice in China.