| Chapter 2: Jurisdiction This chapter addresses the subject-matter jurisdiction of the federal courts and reviews the principal legislative provisions by which Congress has vested federal courts with jurisdiction. The abstention doctrines, which are limitations on the exercise of that jurisdiction, and their implications are also discussed. The jurisdiction of state courts over federal claims is reviewed last. I. Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. Article III, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to create inferior federal courts. The outer boundary of federal judicial power is defined in Article III, Section 2. These constitutional provisions are not self-executing. Beginning with the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress has created a system of federal courts and vested it with much, but not all, of the jurisdiction permitted by Section 2. The Constitution therefore establishes the potential scope of federal jurisdiction, and Congress defines the actual, more limited, range of it. Statutes also limit the exercise of subject-matter jurisdiction by federal courts. Some of these limitations are explicit restrictions on federal jurisdiction in matters such as state taxation, public utility rate-making, and labor disputes. Other limitations are implicit in the jurisdictional provisions of other congressional enactments. The U.S. Supreme Court has also created restrictions on the exercise of statutorily conferred jurisdiction. Some of the restrictions are derived from Article III’s case and controversy requirement, discussed in Chapter 3 of this Manual. Others fall within the ambit of the abstention doctrine, discussed in this chapter. |