Dane
Examines fundamental questions about the idea of "jurisdiction" in our legal culture. The
course asks how questions of judicial jurisdiction differ from other sorts of legal questions, and
what the consequences of those differences might be. Specific topics include the direct and
collateral authority of judicial decisions rendered in the absence of jurisdiction; the threshold
character (or not) of jurisdictional issues; the possibility of "jurisdiction to determine
jurisdiction"; waiver of jurisdictional bars; attitudes to the interpretation of jurisdictional
statutes; the special problems posed when jurisdictional questions overlap with questions on the
merits; distinctions between courts of inferior and superior jurisdiction and between courts of
general and limited jurisdiction; notions of "inherent" and "hypothetical" jurisdiction; judicial
immunity; jurisdictional facts and the preclusive effect of factual determinations made in
dismissals for lack of jurisdiction; habeas corpus as a jurisdictional doctrine or not; the use of
jurisdictional concepts in administrative law; the doctrine of "jurisdictional time limits"; and the
like. The main focus of the course will be on American cases and legal doctrines. It will also,
however, pay some attention to political history, comparative law, and legal theory.