Terms Used In Iowa Code 631.9

  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
631.9 Jurisdiction determined.
At the time set for the hearing of a small claim, the court first shall determine that proper notice as provided in § 631.5, subsection 4, has been given a party before proceeding further as to that party, unless the party has appeared or is an existing party, and also shall determine that the action is properly brought as a small claim.
[C73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §631.9]