The focus of attention in the argument of Mobil is not the defendant, but the group members. That inverts the usual principle as to the jurisdiction of a court, which is the capacity to exercise power over a defendant. In Laurie v Carroll9, Dixon CJ, Williams and Webb JJ quoted the statement of Viscount Haldane10 that "[t]he root principle of the English law about jurisdiction is that the judges stand in the place of the Sovereign in whose name they administer justice, and that therefore whoever is served with the King's writ, and can be compelled consequently to submit to the decree made, is a person over whom the Courts have jurisdiction".
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