Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T03:23:44.415Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - The legal regime of outer space in light of the Law of the Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

By
Viviana Iavicoli
Edited by
Salvatore Aricò
Viviana Iavicoli
Affiliation:
Institute for International Legal Studies
Salvatore Aricò
Affiliation:
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), France
Get access

Summary

11.1 Space law at its inception and analogy with other regimes

Outer space is an area encompassed among spaces beyond the limits of national jurisdiction and for this reason its legal regime is often associated with those applicable to other common spaces, such as the high seas and the deep seabed, and to Antarctica. The legal regime concerning outer space, the Moon, and the other celestial bodies does not draw inspiration from a specific part of international law; rather it deals with a mixture of multiple analogies (Peterson, 1997; DeSaussure, 1992; Kopal, 1992).

During the 1980s, space law was frequently defined as a special branch of international law. However, this definition cannot be considered more than a ratione materiae criterion, since space law was born in the context of international law, and its applicability to space activities has been confirmed by all of the relevant United Nations general treaties and declarations. Currently, it is commonly also presumed to cover domestic laws and the laws of the European Union concerning space activities. Therefore, space law can be defined as a ‘specific and coherent set of rules applicable to activities of states and other subjects, including private subjects, in outer space or related to outer space activities’ (Marchisio, 2006).

The inception of space activities marks the beginning of space law. On 13 December 1958, the General Assembly of the United Nations set up an Ad Hoc Committee as its subsidiary body, with the aim to deal with space matters. Between 1959 and 1962, the Committee for Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (Ad Hoc Committee for Peaceful Uses, then COPUOS) released three important resolutions: Resolution 1472 (XIV) (12 December 1959) and Resolution 1721 (XVI) (20 December 1961), both concerning international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space; and Resolution 1962 (XVIII) (13 December, 1963) concerning the legal principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and uses of outer space. Although not binding, these resolutions reflected the opinion of a relevant number of states on basic principles of space law in statu nascendi.

Type
Chapter
Information
Ocean Sustainability in the 21st Century , pp. 249 - 274
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreone, G. (2012). Chronique de la jurisprudence, Annuaire du Droit de la Mer: pp. 689–705.
Back Impallomeni, E. (1983). Spazio Cosmico e Corpi Celesti nell'Ordinamento Internazionale. Padova: CEDAM.Google Scholar
Baslar, K. (1998). The Concept of the Common Heritage of Mankind in International Law. The Hague/Boston/London: Nijhoff.Google Scholar
COMEST (2003). Third session, 1–3 December Rio de Janeiro. Proceedings: 21. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001343/134391e.pdf
Del Ville, P. (2009). Réflexions sur le principe de non appropriation de l'espace extramosphérique et des corps célestes. Revue française de Droit Aérien et Spatial 250(2): 137–160.Google Scholar
DeSaussure, H. (1992). The freedom of outer space and their maritime antecedents. In: Jasentuljiana, Space Law: Development and Scope. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
von der Dunk, F. (2002). 70th Conference of the International Law Association, Space Law Committee New Delhi.
von der Dunk, F., and Brus, M. (eds.) (2006). The International Space Station: Commercial Utilisation from a European Legal Perspective. Leiden/Boston: Nijhoff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrajolo, O. (2011). Il Trattato ‘incompiuto’. L'Accordo sulla Luna del 1979 e le altre norme internazionali rilevanti per l'uso delle risorse naturali nello spazio esterno. In Studi in Onore di Claudio Zanghì, Vol. IV, Diritto dello Spazio e Miscellanea. Torino: Giappichelli: 51–66.Google Scholar
Hobe, S. (2007). Adequacy of the current legal and regulatory framework relating to the extraction and appropriation of natural resources in outer space. Journal of Space Law 32: 115–130.Google Scholar
Hobe, S. (2009). Art. I, OST. In: Cologne Commentary on Space Law (CoCoSL) Vol. I, Hobe, S., Schmidt-Tedd, B. and Schrogl, K.-U. (eds.). Cologne: Carl Heymanns Verlag: 25–43.Google Scholar
Hobe, S. (2013). Moon Agreement Future Perspectives. In: Cologne Commentary on Space Law (CoCoSL) Vol. II, Hobe, S., Schmidt-Tedd, B., and Schrogl, K.-U. (eds.). Cologne: Carl Heymanns Verlag: 423–426.Google Scholar
Kerrest, A. (2001). Outer Space: Res Communis, Common Heritage or Common Province of Mankind? Notes for a lecture in the Nice 2001 ECSL Summer Course, ECSL: 16–26.
Kerrest, A. (2004a). Exploitation of the resources of the high seas and Antarctica: Lesson for the Moon? Issues in IISL/ECSL Space Law Symposium 2004 on New Developments and the Legal Framework Covering the Exploitation of the Resources of the Moon (United Nations Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/2004/CPR.11, 1 April 2004), 33–38.
Kerrest, A. (2004b). The Evolution of the Basic Principles vis-à-vis the Evolution of Space Activities and Technologies: Frictions and Future. ECSL Summer Course, Terni.
Kiss, A. (1982). La notion de patrimoine commun de l'humanité. In Hague Academy of International Law, Recueil des Cours de. vol. 175, II: 99–256.Google Scholar
Kopal, V. (1992). Evolution of the doctrine of space law. In: Jasentuliyana, N. (ed.). Space Law: Development and Scope. New York: Praeger: 17–32.Google Scholar
Lachs, M. (2010). The Law of Outer Space – An Experience in Contemporary Law-Making by Manfred Lachs, reissued on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the International Institute of Space Law. Masson-Zwaan, T., and Hobe, S. (eds.). Leiden/Boston: Nijhoff Publishers.Google Scholar
Lyall, F., and Larsen, P. (2009). Space Law: A Treatise. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Marchisio, S. (2005). The evolutionary stages of the legal subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). Journal of Space Law 31(1): 219–242.Google Scholar
Marchisio, S. (2006). The Law of Outer Space: How to Define It? 15th ECSL Summer Course on Space Law and Policy, Noordwijk, CDROM.
Marchisio, S. (2009). Art. IX. In: Cologne Commentary on Space Law (CoCoSL) Vol. I, Hobe, S., Schmidt-Tedd, B., and Schrogl, K.-U. (eds.). Cologne: Carl Heymanns Verlag: 169–182.Google Scholar
Marchisio, S. (2012). The legal dimension of the sustainability of outer space activities. In: Outer Space Activities: International Legal Aspects. X Annual All-Russian Scientific Conference on Current Problems of Modern International Law, commemorating Professor Igor P. Blischenko. Abashidze, A., Zhukov, G., and Solntsev, A. (eds.). 13–14 April 2012, Moscow: PFUR: 157–177.Google Scholar
Mayence, J.-F. (2008). Gouvernance et coopération dans le domaine des activités spatiales à travers quarante années de droit de l'Espace. In: Droit de l'Espace : Télécommunications, Observation, Navigation, Défense, Exploration. Brussels: Larcier: 47–67.Google Scholar
Paliouras, Z. A. (2014). The non-appropriation principle: The grundnorm of international space law. Leiden Journal of International Law 27: 37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, M. (1997). The use of analogies in developing outer space law. International Organization 51(2): 254–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Setsuko, A. (2004). Commentary on emerging system of property rights in outer space. UN Workshop on Space Law, Action at the National Level, Proceedings: 310–316.
Tennen, I. (2004). Commentary on emerging system of property rights. UN workshop on Space Law, Action at the National Level, Proceedings: 342–347.
Tronchetti, F. (2010). The commercial exploitation of the natural resources of the moon and other celestial bodies: What role for the Moon Agreement? In: Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law. Prague: 614–624.Google Scholar
Tuerk, H. (2004). The negotiation of the Moon Agreement. In: Space Law Symposium 2009, 30th Anniversary of the “Moon Agreement”: Retrospect and Prospect (available at www.unoosa.org/pdf/pres/lsc2009/symp00.pdf, last visited on 6 November 2014): 491–499.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×