Updated and Verified: December 02, 2024 (News page records significant changes.)
Accessed on
December 02, 2024
Jurisdiction is about law. To say that a court has jurisdiction means that the court has the authority to hear (to adjudicate/judge/evaluate) cases about a given part of law: "[jurisdiction is the] [p]ower of a court to adjudicate cases and issue orders."1 So, a bankruptcy court has jurisdiction to hear a bankruptcy case – but not the jurisdiction to hear a case about assault. (That would be the jurisdiction of a criminal court.)
Jurisdiction can also refer to a location where specific laws apply, distinct from other locations: "[jurisdiction is the] [t]erritory within which a court or government agency may properly exercise its power."1 So, for example, in U.S. law, the laws of a given state apply to those people who are subject to (governed by) the jurisdiction of that state, just as the laws of the United States will apply to everyone who is subject to U.S. jurisdiction - including all the people subject to the laws of any U.S. state or territory.
Here in the USA, jurisdiction matters a lot. It is generally illegal and a bad idea for anyone but a jurisdiction-licensed physician to give
medical advice, anyone but a jurisdiction-licensed attorney to give legal advice, anyone but a
jurisdiction-licensed nutritionist or registered dietician to give metabolic advice, and so forth. This
website's information is generally incomplete to predict how applying it may affect a given visitor - because
the effects depend on the person's unique circumstances and characteristics.
So, here is the only medical, legal, and metabolic advice on this website: None of this website is individualized
medical, legal, or metabolic advice. It is general information. You should not try to apply any of this
information to your life, unless you know what you are doing. Generally, the governments of USA's jurisdictions
(states and territories) declare two things through law:
Without the guidance of a jurisdiction-licensed physician, attorney, or nutritionist: you do not know what
you are doing, so it is unwise and unsafe for you to make too many decision about your medical, legal, and
metabolic status and circumstances, and
no one but a licensed physician, attorney, or nutritionist can safely and effectively advise you about those
statuses and circumstances - thus, it is generally illegal for anyone else to try.
Obviously, those standards are extremely conservative, if not heavy-handed. However, one should remember that
many of those people in government who uphold such strict standards have seen the stuff of nightmares:
predictable, preventable, terrible consequences when the
least capable and least conscientious people make the worst decisions - whether medically, legally,
nutritionally, or otherwise. So, it
is not wildly unreasonable to promote - even to legally command - erring on the safe side. Still, various
jurisdictions do provide some exceptions to those exceptionally strict standards under law.
Here in Minnesota (and in many other U.S. states and territories) a person can help you with certain
aspects of your medical, legal, and metabolic status and circumstances - even when that person is not formally
licensed by the jurisdiction. Minnesota, for example, allows various people besides licensed nutritionists and
registered dieticians to give metabolic advice and guidance: certain Complementary and Alternative Health
Care providers, which Minnesota allows under law. Minn. Stat. § 146A. Thus, one need not feel
completely locked into the strict standards listed above (though jurisdictions do typically still hold
alternative providers to certain basic standards under law). Instead, in the USA, one can discuss the
information on this website, and receive guidance about it, from various experts - whether jurisdiction-licensed
or not.
Meanwhile, this thorough and smart-sounding notice and explanation should not tempt any visitor into having any
extra trust for the information in this website. At most, as the saying goes: "trust but verify."
Sincerely,
Rev. Dr. R. Floyd Lindquist, Esq.
Her Metabolism: Founder, Treasurer, Secretary, Lead Data Scientist, and Director of Communications and Research
PhD (Thanatology), PsyD (Psychology), DLP (Law and Policy), MPH (Nutrition & Epidemiology), MS (Nutrition), MA (Counseling)