Jurisdiction can be used to refer to a country or federal state but more often refers to the connection a party to proceedings must have with a country to allow that country to deal with those proceedings, or the power to make a particular order. Sometimes more than one country has possible jurisdiction, and there can be big advantages to one spouse to have the proceedings in one country and not another. See ‘forum shopping’. This can result in a forum dispute. Where two or more EU countries are involved, Brussels II says that the first to issue secures jurisdiction so speed in issuing is vital.