Why does something need to be a fiction in law or the courts?
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It’s called a “legal fiction” because it’s not true but we pretend it’s true to make the law work more effectively or efficiently.
For example, a corporation is not a person, but we treat it legally as a person: it’s a legal fiction that a “corporation stole your land” because a corporation isn’t an entity that can make decisions or take actions. But so you don’t have to sue every single shareholder and employee of the corporation, we pretend the corporation is a legal person.
Similarly, for a state to assert jurisdiction over you, you’re supposed to have contacts with it under which you derive some benefit and protection from its laws. But let’s say you’re driving down the highway and cross a tiny corner of Tennessee for 2 seconds. In those two seconds, Tennessee can arrest you because we pretend that by being in Tennessee for two seconds, you’re enjoying the benefits and protections of Tennessee law.
In both of these cases, you can make the law work without the fiction, but it would be cumbersome. You’d have to sue a bunch of shareholders, and states would have to establish how much presence counts as “enjoyment and protections of its laws.” Instead we pretend the simpler version is true to make things more efficient.
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