What is Space Law?

In light of recently recommending some space law blogs and declaring the start of the new space race, it seems we should take a moment and reflect on what is space law. Fortunately, the Wall Street Journal's law blog just ran a post on that very subject! To get a cursory overview of space law, they interviewed Henry Hertzfeld, a JD and a professor at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington’s Elliott School for International Affairs. Here is an excerpt from that interview:

What the heck is space law?

Well, a good lawyer could argue that there’s no such thing as space law. But I think there is, and it revolves around a unique set of international agreements and treaties that govern space. The master treaty — the grandfather — is commonly referred to as the Outer Space Treaty. It came into effect in 1967, at the height of the cold war, and basically reflected the concerns of the two superpowers at the time, the U.S. and the Soviet Union. One of the fundamental principles is that space should be used peacefully. The treaty states that no weapons of mass destruction can exist in space, and reflects the idea that space should be used for the benefit of mankind. It also says that no country can claim sovereignity in space, establishes an international system for the registration of space objects and creates principles governing responsibility and liability for problems that arise in space.

Liability in space? What does the treaty say?

Liability in space is really addressed by a convention that came later, called the Convention on Liability. What’s perhaps most interesting about it is that the signatory-nations all agree to be absolutely liable for damage to other nations resulting from space objects. So if a satellite falls from space and the U.S. has launched it, the U.S. government is ultimately responsible. There’s no other agreement that I’m aware of that has reached an arrangement like this on both government and privately-owned equipment.

Any other interesting treaties?

Well, there’s the treaty commonly known as the Moon Treaty. It’s only been ratified or signed by 17 states — the U.S. is not a party to it.

Really? We're not part of the Moon Treaty? Why not?

Basically because the Moon Treaty includes provisions which state that the resources of the Moon need to serve the “common heritage of mankind.” Right now, we haven’t gotten a ton of resources from the moon — the rocks from the Apollo mission are about all that come to mind. But if commercial resources were ever developed, proceeds would arguably have to be shared with other nations. There are a number of provisions in space treaties that aren’t exactly business friendly, and this is one of them.

So what do space lawyers do?

Right now, there’s really very little litigation going on. But there’s lots of entrepreneurial activity. So people making money in space law really are doing traditional commercial law. They’re doing FCC licenses and other issues related to satellites, such as getting clearances from the State department on export control. Space lawyers also handle bankruptcy cases. Then there’s a whole separate but related practice helping countries do joint projects with industry and governments.

Hat-tip: Space Law Probe

We also recommend reading our post entitled, A Cursory Glance at Space Law.

Comments

[Nicolas Jondet]

Here's an interesting legal analysis on the concept of private property in space by two scholars from India:
Jijo George Cherian & Job Abraham, "Concept of Private Property in Space – An Analysis". Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology, Vol. 2, Issue 4 (2007) @

http://www.jiclt.com/index.php/JICLT/article/viewFile/50/36