Steer & Hersch: War and Peace in Outer Space: Law, Policy, and Ethics

Cassandra Steer (Australian National Univ. - Law) & Matthew Hersch (Harvard Univ. - History of Science) have published War and Peace in Outer Space: Law, Policy, and Ethics (Oxford Univ. Press 2021). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This book delves into legal and ethical concerns over the increased weaponization of outer space and the potential for space-based conflict in the very near future. Unique to this collection is the emphasis on questions of ethical conduct and legal standards applicable to military uses of outer space. No other existing publication takes this perspective, nor includes such a range of interdisciplinary expertise.

The essays included in this volume explore the moral and legal issues of space security in four sections. Part I provides a general legal framework for the law of war and peace in space. Part II tackles ethical issues. Part III looks at specific threats to space security. Part IV proposes possible legal and diplomatic solutions. With an expert author team from North American and Europe, the volume brings together academics, military lawyers, military space operators, aerospace industry representatives, diplomats, and national security and policy experts. The experience of this team provides a collection unmatched in any academic publication broaching even some of these issues and will be required reading for anyone interested in war and peace in outer space.

Nelson: The Artemis Accords and the Future of International Space Law

Jack Wright Nelson (National Univ. of Singapore) has posted an ASIL Insight on The Artemis Accords and the Future of International Space Law.

"Live from L": Space Law

On February 27, 2020, the ABA Section of International Law, together with the American Society of International Law, will present the 10th Annual "Live from L" at George Washington University Law School, featuring Marik String, Acting Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State. The topic is: "Space Law." You may register to attend in-person or for the webcast.

Durkee: Interstitial Space Law

Melissa J. Durkee (Univ. of Georgia - Law) has posted Interstitial Space Law (Washington University Law Review, forthcoming). Here’s the abstract:

Conventionally, customary international law is developed through the actions and beliefs of nations. International treaties are interpreted, in part, by assessing how the parties to the treaty behave. This Article observes that these forms of uncodified international law—custom and subsequent treaty practice—are also developed through a nation’s reactions, or failures to react, to acts and beliefs that can be attributed to it. I call this “attributed lawmaking.”

Consider the new commercial space race. Innovators like SpaceX and Blue Origin seek a permissive legal environment. A Cold-War-era treaty does not seem adequately to address contemporary plans for space. The treaty does, however, attribute private sector activity to nations. The theory of attributed lawmaking suggests that the attribution renders the activity of private actors in space relevant to the development of binding international legal rules. As a doctrinal matter, private activity that is attributed to the state becomes “state practice” for the purpose of treaty interpretation or customary international law formation. Moreover, as a matter of realpolitik, private actors standing in the shoes of the state can force states into a reactive posture, easing the commercially preferred rules into law through the power of inertia and changes to the status quo. Attributed lawmaking is not a new phenomenon but it may have increasing significance at a time when multilateral lawmaking is at an ebb, lines between public and private entities are blurring, and the question of attribution becomes both more complex and more urgent.

Conference: Global Perspectives on Space Law and Policy

On October 18, 2019, the 12th Annual Nebraska Space Law Conference will be held in Washington, DC. The theme is: "Global Perspectives on Space Law and Policy." The program is here.

Conference: The Future of Space Governance

On October 28, 2019, the Dean Rusk International Law Center and the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law at the University of Georgia School of Law will host a conference on "The Future of Space Governance." The program is here.

Zannoni: Disaster Management and International Space Law

Diego Zannoni (Università degli Studi di Padova) has published Disaster Management and International Space Law (Brill | Nijhoff 2019). Here's the abstract:

Is international law equipped to tackle the challenges posed by the dramatic increase in disasters? In Disaster Management and International Space Law Diego Zannoni attempts to answer this crucial question through an analysis of the main legal issues involved, addressing both prevention and relief, with a special focus on major space applications such as remote sensing and telecommunications, and the attendant specific legal regimes.

It is argued that, when lives of human beings are in danger, territorial sovereignty becomes, to a certain extent, porous and bends in front of the value of human life and the urgent need to rescue. On the other hand, specific obligations were identified to cooperate in the prevention and management of disasters, particularly in terms of data sharing.

AJIL Unbound Symposium: The New Space Race

AJIL Unbound has posted a symposium on "The New Space Race." The symposium includes an introduction by Saadia M. Pekkanen and contributions by Tanja Masson-Zwaan, Setsuko Aoki, Paul B. Larsen, Brian R. Israel, P.J. Blount, and Matthew T. King and Laurie R. Blank.

New Additions to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The Codification Division of the UN Office of Legal Affairs recently recently added a mini-series on the law of outer space to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law website by Gérardine Goh Escolar.

Froehlich: A Fresh View on the Outer Space Treaty

Annette Froehlich (European Space Policy Institute) has published A Fresh View on the Outer Space Treaty (Springer 2018). Contents include:

• Gordon Chung, Emergence of Environmental Protection Clauses in Outer Space Treaty: A Lesson from the Rio Principles
• Giulia Pavesi, Legal Consequences of Environmental Pollution in Outer Space
• Alexander Gairiseb, Intentional Destruction of Satellites in Relation to International Peace and Security
• Eduardo Bressel Baratto, Peacekeeping Operations in Outer Space: Contradictions in Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty
• Matteo Frigoli, Wild Military Operations in Outer Space: A Sword of Damocles Hanging over the Future of Space Environment and Space Activities
• Zach Miller, Space Settlement and the Celestial Subjectivity Model: Shifting Our Legal Perspective of the Universe
• Maria Baczyńska-Wilkowska, Outer Space Treaty During Fourth Industrial Revolution
• Valentin Degrange, Into the Twenty-First Century: Integration of Principles of Global Governance in Space Law

Mačák: Silent War: Applicability of the Jus in Bello to Military Space Operations

Kubo Mačák (Univ. of Exeter) has posted Silent War: Applicability of the Jus in Bello to Military Space Operations (International Law Studies, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

There are no molecules of air that could carry sound waves in the vacuum of outer space. Accordingly, space warfare may well become the first type of war whose signature sound would be—silence. But does the law of armed conflict (jus in bello) fall silent in times of Silent War? This article addresses the uncertainty at the heart of this issue. First, it delineates the relevant conceptual framework by examining the factual notion of “military space operations,” and its relationship with the legal concept of “armed conflict,” as well as the overlap between the potentially applicable bodies of law. It then argues in favor of the general applicability of the jus in bello to military space operations while distinguishing this issue from the separate question of whether war in outer space can be justified. Finally, it considers the four specific dimensions of applicability of the relevant law: material, personal, temporal, and geographic. The article concludes that the jus in bello applies to space operations generally and clarifies the situations, persons, times, and places to which this body of law applies.

Workshop: Oceans and Space: New Frontiers in Investment Protection?

On March 10-11, 2017, Rainer Hofmann (Univ. of Frankfurt), Stephan W. Schill (Univ. of Amsterdam), and Christian J. Tams (Univ. of Glasgow) will again convene the Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop. The topic is: "Oceans and Space: New Frontiers in Investment Protection?" The program is here. Here's the idea:

Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop 2017: Oceans and Space: New Frontiers in Investment Protection? (10-11 March 2017)

For many years, the Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop – jointly organized by Rainer Hofmann (Frankfurt), Stephan W. Schill (Amsterdam), and Christian J. Tams (Glasgow) – has been a forum for the discussion of foundational issues of international investment law.

With activities ranging from energy production at sea via deep seabed mining to space mining, spacefaring and space tourism, areas beyond territorial sovereignty increasingly attract foreign investment. These investments raise questions that go to the core of investment law, but have so far hardly been explored, such as: How are commercial activities on the oceans or in space protected against political risk? What law, if any, protects them, and how does it balance commercial interests against regulatory concerns, including the environmental protection, national security, and the common heritage of mankind? How can disputes be settled in an effective and balanced manner?

The 2017 Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop will offer a systematic analysis of these issues by inquiring into traditional sources of investment protection, such as investment treaties, contractual arrangements, and domestic laws, and by addressing the interaction of the law of the sea, space law and international investment law. The Workshop will bring together academics and practitioners and provide them with a forum for open and frank exchanges. The Workshop program is available here; for edited collections that have grown out of earlier Frankfurt Investment Law Workshops see here, here, here and here.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Sabine Schimpf, Merton Centre for European Integration and International Economic Order, University of Frankfurt, E-Mail: S.Schimpf@jur.uni-frankfurt.de by 28 February 2017.

Hofmann: Dispute Settlement in the Area of Space Communication

Mahulena Hofmann (Univ. of Luxembourg - Law) has published Dispute Settlement in the Area of Space Communication (Nomos 2015). Here's the abstract:

Which dispute settlement mechanisms are available in the area of space communication? Their choice is clearly determined by the legal character of those who are parties in the dispute - States, international intergovernmental organizations, private entities or even individuals. In the perspective of the very subject of the study, the analysis of various dispute settlement mechanisms demonstrated that not all existing mechanisms are equally capable to serve its purpose. It appeared that the parties of a dispute very often prefer searching for a consensus and an arbitration procedure in case of disagreement prior to international adjudication. The cases where formalized international courts are involved in this area have been relatively rare: This situation brings some of space communication disputes close to the area of investment disputes: high costs of investment, its international character, the necessity to keep working relations with the opposing party of the dispute after the conclusion of the dispute, difficult technical background of the case, little trust in court procedures, low indemnification and the fear of non-implementation of court decisions are the decisive factors of these similarities. As a consequence, it can be expected that mediation, negotiation and arbitration, but also alternative dispute settlements mechanism will remain the main mechanisms of dispute settlement in the area of space communication in the near future. With contributions by: Mahulena Hofmann; Srinivasan Venkatsubramanian; Francis Lyall; Gerald E. Oberst; Tanja Masson-Zwaan; Peter Malanczuk; Frans von der Dunk; Ioanna Thoma; Susan Poser and Joel Rische; Andreas Loukakis.

Sundahl: The Cape Town Convention: Its Application to Space Assets and Relation to the Law of Outer Space

Mark J. Sundahl (Cleveland State Univ. - Law) has published The Cape Town Convention: Its Application to Space Assets and Relation to the Law of Outer Space (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2013). Here's the abstract:

The UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment created a new international regime of secured finance applicable to aircraft and rolling stock that facilitates the financing of this equipment by, among other things, enabling lenders to create a readily enforceable security interest in the equipment. The Space Assets Protocol extends the benefits of the convention to satellites and other space assets. This book explains the operation of the convention in a manner that is useful both to lawyers engaged in satellite finance as well as to academics who desire to obtain a more complete understanding of this treaty. The book also explores the relationship between the convention and the existing body of space law.

Hobe, Schmidt-Tedd, & Schrogl: Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Volume 2)

Stephan Hobe, Bernhard Schmidt-Tedd, & Kai-Uwe Schrogl have published volume two of the Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Carl Heymanns Verlag 2013). Here's the abstract:

The Cologne Commentary on Space Law (CoCoSL) is a three-volume annotation on the norms of space law as contained in the Treaties of the United Nations and its General Assembly Resolutions. As a joint publication of the Institute of Air and Space Law of the University of Cologne and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the commentary brings together the scientific and academic proficiency of the Institute and the practical and technical capacity of DLR. It constitutes essential reading for all academics, practitioners and technicians working in the field of space law and beyond.

Volume II comments on four UN Treaties of international space law: the 1968 Rescue Agreement, the 1972 Liability Convention, the 1975 Registration Convention and the 1979 Moon Agreement. Experienced authors from various countries representing different legal traditions elaborated on these four agreements which were concluded after the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Many of the provisions and concepts of the Outer Space Treaty are further developed by the subsequent treaty law that is addressed in this book. The interpretation of the basic legal norms provided by Volume I, which comments on the Outer Space Treaty, thus constitutes a foundation for the commentary in Volume II.

Call for Submissions: Space Law and International Economic Law

The Indian Journal of International Economic Law has issued a call for submissions for a special issue on "Space Law and International Economic Law." Here's the call (courtesy of Res Communis):

IJIEL is a peer-reviewed journal produced by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, funded by the Indian government sponsored chair on WTO law at NLSIU. The mandate of the journal encompasses all aspects of international economic law, especially from a developing country perspective. Our Editorial Board includes renowned and respected academics such as Prof. Andrew Guzman, Ms. Jayashree Watal and Prof. Yuji Iwasawa. Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati wrote the foreword for our first issue. We have just published our second issue in October 2009.

As a young journal we try to focus on new, contemporary and interesting areas and issues. One such area is the interface between international economic law and space law, particularly topics such as the umbrella of common benefit and interest which covers international trade in space products and information, or the international financial implications of multilateral space operations.

Submissions are sought in three categories: long Articles of 10,000-12,000 words, short articles of 5,000-8,000 words and notes or comments of 2,000-4,000 words. The deadline for submissions is May 31, 2010. The issue will be published by the end of August, 2010. Citations should conform to the Bluebook system.

For further information regarding the journal, or to access the first two issues, please visit http://www.ijiel.com. Please direct queries concerning this special issue to ijiel@nls.ac.in, or directly to the Chief-Editor (Abhimanyu George Jain) at abhimanyugeorgejain@gmail.com.

Conference: Legal Regimes of Sea, Antarctica, Air and Space

The seventh international conference of the Indian Society of International Law will take place January 15-17, 2010, in New Delhi. (I noted the call for papers here.) The topic is "Legal Regimes of Sea, Antarctica, Air and Space." The program is here.

Delassus: Du droit applicable à bord de la Station Spatiale Internationale

Sylvain Delassus has published Du droit applicable à bord de la Station Spatiale Internationale (Persée 2009). Here's the abstract:

Le droit de la Station Spatiale Internationale est inscrit dans " l'Accord entre le Gouvernement du Canada, les membres de l'Agence Spatiale Européenne, le Gouvernement du Japon, le Gouvernement de la Fédération de Russie et le Gouvernement des Etats-Unis d'Amérique sur la coopération relative à la Station Spatiale Internationale Civile ". Daté de 1988, cet Accord ne sera finalisé qu'en 1998 et concrétisé en 2004. Ce droit - d'essences intergouvernementale et conventionnelle - se place dans la lignée du droit onusien d'inspiration juridique maritime, ou sous l'édiction de droits nationaux variés.

Bilder: A Legal Regime for the Mining of Helium-3 on the Moon: U.S. Policy Options

Richard Bilder (Univ. of Wisconsin - Law) has posted A Legal Regime for the Mining of Helium-3 on the Moon: U.S. Policy Options (Fordham International Law Journal, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This article addresses questions of U.S. international legal and space policy arising from current proposals of the U.S., Russia, China and India to establish national bases on the Moon, in part with the purpose of mining and bringing to Earth Helium-3 (He-3). He-3 is an isotope of helium that is available in quantity only on the Moon and could, as an ideal fuel for nuclear fusion reactors, furnish humanity a virtually unlimited source of safe, non-polluting energy for centuries to come. For example, it is estimated that 40 tons of liquefied He-3 brought from the Moon to the Earth – about the amount that could comfortably fit in the cargo bays of two of the existing U.S. space shuttles – would provide sufficient fuel for He-3-based fusion reactors to meet the full electrical needs of the U.S. – or a quarter of the entire world’s electrical needs – for an entire year. However, there is as yet no international consensus on whether, or how, any nation or private enterprise can exploit or acquire title to He-3 or other lunar resources. The article calls attention to what may become a “race to the Moon” to obtain He-3 and discusses: (1) the technical and economic prospects for the development of He-3-based energy; (2) the present legal situation concerning the exploitation of lunar resources such as He-3; and (3) policy options for the U.S. regarding the establishment of an international legal regime capable of avoiding conflict in the exploitation of He-3 and other lunar resources and facilitating the broad scale development of He-3-based energy.

Call for Papers: Legal Regimes of Sea, Antarctica, Air and Space

The Indian Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for its seventh international conference, January 15-17, 2010, in New Delhi. The topic is "Legal Regimes of Sea, Antarctica, Air and Space." The call for papers is here. The deadline for submissions is November 16, 2009.