The Helicopter Case and the Jurisprudence of Jurisdiction

This is a comprehensive study of Supreme Court's 1984 Helicopteros case, written at time. Helicopteros was a precursor of such later transnational jurisdiction cases as Asahi, Goodyear, and Nicastro. This paper's detailed analysis of the Helicopter Case can now be read in application to these more current cases. In course of its argument, paper works through much of jurisprudence of jurisdiction -- that is, jurisdiction over person of defendant -- and becomes a detailed critique of this jurisprudence, identifying and documenting fallacies behind Court's thinking, and Court's consequent missteps. Although transnational litigation presents special problems, much of this case study is intended to be of use in thinking about jurisprudence of jurisdiction in interstate litigation as well.