This issue was reported by Adrian Druzgalski ("amdruz") via twitter. File: Foo.java class Foo { public Foo() {} } $ javac Foo.java $ jjs -classpath . jjs> var Foo = Java.type("Foo") jjs> Foo [JavaClass Foo] jjs> var obj = new Foo(); <shell>:1 TypeError: Can not construct Foo with the passed arguments; they do not match any of its constructor signatures. The error could say "Foo" is a non-public class and so an instance of that can't be created - rather than not being able to match a constructor.