Jus cerebri electronici
Jus cerebri electronici (Latin for "right of the server") states that the jurisdiction under which a server or client falls is not determined by the territory on which the server lies, or even the territory on which it was built, but by the hypercitizenship or citizenship of the owner of the server or client. Jus cerebri electronici states that the owner of the server or client exercises higher title and jurisdiction because Roman law (jus sanguinis/jus soli) doesn't apply at all to the Internet, but rather Cesidian law (jus cerebri electronici). Any territorial nation's claim to the Internet based on the location of a server or client is in fact illegitimate.
The rationale of jus cerebri electronici is actually based on international law. According to the Montevideo Convention Article 1, a state is such only if it has a territory. Non-territorial or virtual states are not true states under this Convention. Since non-territorial states are not true states according to international law, it follows that they are not proper jurisdictions either, the area to which the executive or legislative powers or laws of a government extend. Therefore computers, servers, and computer networks like the Internet are not legal jurisdictions on which the powers of the state, including powers of regulation and taxation, can legally apply. This idea has a parallel in the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which is also about separation of powers, and states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." In essence, this thinking is as follows: the powers not delegated to territorial states by the Montevideo Convention, nor prohibited by the Montevideo Convention to other jurisdictions, are reserved to other jurisdictions, or to the people. Since the Law of nations, and any special rights associated with the Law of nations, applies only to independent countries, which are territorial by their very nature, their jurisdiction does not extend to the Internet. But since even a country's sub-jurisdictions are also territorial in nature, their jurisdiction does not extend to the Internet either. Thus the jurisdiction of the Internet can only extend to the people.
Roman law (jus sanguinis/jus soli) in essence, which is also the basis of international law, does not apply to the Internet. If the Internet works, therefore, it is because a Higher Law is in effect, not matter (jus soli) over mind (jus cerebri electronici), but rather mind (jus cerebri electronici) over matter (jus soli). Not only does the jurisdiction of a territorial state not extend to the Internet, but over the Internet higher title is in fact exercised by the owner/programmer of the server or client, and thus the jurisdiction is that of the human mind, and whatever jurisdiction the human mind can comprehend, recognise, or understand, free from duress of any kind.
Jus cerebri electronici or the right of the server implies that servers or clients are sovereign entities in their own right by virtue of the human minds that program and control them, and territorial governments — governed by the right of the territory or jus soli — have no right to exercise power over them anymore than non-territorial states (e.g. micronations or Fifth World nations) can exercise power over land.
Jus cerebri electronici shows what has been known for a long time by Western civilisation: the province of the territorial state is territory, and territory alone. States have no jurisdiction over the human mind, or over extensions of the human mind, such as computers and networks.
- A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
- The Internet is a Place Outside of the Territorial Jurisdiction of the United States
- Adapted from the 5W Wiki article, "Jus cerebri electronici" http://seedwiki.com/wiki/fifth_world/jus_cerebri_electronici, used under the GNU Free Documentation License.