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"LITIGATION ARISING FROM AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES"

By Donald W. Madole*
(Presented at American Trial Lawyers Association Mid-Winter Meeting——February 1967)

Introduction

Though we cross oceans and national boundaries with ease and speed in jet travel, those same national boundaries represent a serious obstacle to preparation for aviation litigation. National jurisdiction is recognized in public international law as extending to but not beyond a country's borders. Other barriers to fact gathering are raised by language differences and distances. These problems are compounded by the complexity of international relations and the differences which separate nations in terms of governmental structure, national policy and legal system. When the widow of a passenger killed in a foreign aircraft accident comes to you for counsel, determining the concepts of wrongful death, tort liability and jurisdiction is but a small part of the task ahead.

History

A brief survey of the historical development of international aviation law is helpful in understanding the problems we are to consider.

* Washington Counsel for firm of Speiser, Shumate, Geoghan & Krause, New York. Formerly, Chief, Hearings and Reports Division, Bureau of Safety, Civil Aeronautics Board.