For civil matters such as terms of purchase and sale from an Internet site, a Web site owner can declare jurisdiction within its posted terms and conditions. North American judicial pronouncements to date tend to recognize such choice of law clauses. The more interactive a Web site is with an individual in another state, the more likely that state will choose to assert its civil jurisdiction. One issue related to civil jurisdiction is the geographical location of the parties. In the Sealand scenario, while the servers will be located in the country of Sealand, the owners of the business and the operators will be resident in another country.
States generally view jurisdiction in criminal matters in a different light than civil.
Criminal matters regarding Internet sites operated from Sealand would include such things as gambling, obscenity, defamation and money laundering. States will desire to control such conduct if their citizens are affected. Australia is currently considering passing laws to restrict the availability of online gambling to its citizens. Jurisdiction for tax issues is determined by other tests. The effectiveness and applicability of offshore tax havens are often more mythical than real.