Space Insurance & Space Law
Space insurance is governed, as all classes of insurance, by general insurance principles: mutualisation (the premium of the many pay for the claims of the few), fortuity (notion of random occurrence as opposed to prediction), indemnity (not to be richer after the loss than before), due intelligence (insurance should not alter the behaviour of the insured), and true and fair declaration of the risk. →
Declaration on International Cooperation and the Needs of Developing Countries
The Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of All States, Taking into Particular Account the Needs of Developing Countries, adopted in 1996 (General Assembly Resolution 51/122), recognises the needs of developing countries. →
Can Space Law apply on Earth?
Can Space Law apply on Earth? When I tell people about my interest in Space Law, they are usually surprised. They ask me what is Space Law and I try to give a simple definition. Recently, I have asked myself if Space Law could apply on Earth and the answer is of course: yes! →
An interview with Jean-François Clervoy
This interview of Jean-François Clervoy was conducted by Louis de Gouyon Matignon for Space Legal Issues on Thursday, April 25, 2019, in the CNES office of Jean-François Clervoy in Paris, France. We talked about Space Law, how astronauts are selected and how much do they earn, the Overview Effect and anecdotes. →
Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space
A positive step towards protecting the human environment was taken on December 14, 1992, with the adoption by the U.N. General Assembly of the Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space. These eleven Principles, with the Resolution adopting them, culminate efforts going back to 1972. →
Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer Space
The Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer Space were adopted by consensus on December 3, 1986. They provide a set of non-binding yet agreed and politically relevant principles to guide the activities of remote sensing by the United Nations member states. →
The Delimitation between Airspace and Outer Space
For this new Space Law article on Space Legal Issues, let’s study the Delimitation between Airspace and Outer Space. The issue of where airspace ends and outer space begins has been debated since the 1950s. This legal issue is important since Air Law and Space Law are governed by vastly different legal regimes. →
Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for International Direct Television Broadcasting
In order to gain some understanding of the impact of communications institutions on the formation of international law, let’s have a look for this new Space Law article at the Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for International Direct Television Broadcasting. →
Understanding the Charter of the United Nations
The Charter of the United Nations (also known as the UN Charter) of 1945 is the foundational treaty of the United Nations, an intergovernmental organisation. The Charter of the United Nations was signed on June 26, 1945, in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, and came into force on October 24, 1945. →
The differences between international and supranational organizations
What are the differences between international and supranational organizations? A supranational organization is an administrative structure that goes beyond the boundaries of states. It differs from international organizations in the fact that within it, decisions are made by institutions specific to the organization, and not by meeting of heads of state or their representatives. →
The legal status of a missile
In this new Space Law article, we will for Space Legal Issues analyse the legal status of a missile. What is a missile? Is it an aircraft? A space object when it is oriented towards outer space? What if a missile passes through outer space, above the Kármán line, like suborbital flights: does it become a space object? Let’s remember that the first rockets were developed as missiles, those space objects, like the V-2, were missiles. That is what we will study. →
The 1979 Moon Agreement
The 1979 Moon Agreement reaffirms and elaborates on many of the provisions of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty as applied to the Moon and other celestial bodies, providing that those bodies should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes, that their environments should not be disrupted, that the United Nations should be informed of the location and purpose of any station established on those bodies. →
The International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York (United States of America). →
Opinio juris sive necessitatis
In international law, opinio juris is the subjective element used to judge whether the practice of a state is due to a belief that it is legally obliged to do a particular act. When opinio juris exists and is consistent with nearly all state practice, customary international law emerges. Opinio juris essentially means that states must act in compliance with the norm not merely out of convenience, habit, coincidence, or political expediency, but rather out of a sense of legal obligation. →
The Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term Geneva Convention usually denotes the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of the Second World War. The Geneva Conventions have been ratified by all States and are universally applicable. →
The Lotus principle
The Lotus principle or Lotus approach, usually considered a foundation of Public International Law, says that sovereign states may act in any way they wish so long as they do not contravene an explicit prohibition. The Lotus case concerns a criminal trial. A collision occurred on the high seas between a French vessel and a Turkish vessel. Victims were Turkish nationals and the alleged offender was French. Could Turkey exercise its jurisdiction over this French national under International Law? →
Peenemünde and the German V-2 rockets
Peenemünde is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The community is known for the Peenemünde Army Research Center, where the world’s first functional large-scale liquid-propellant rocket, the V-2, was developed. →
The solar storm of 1859
Also known as the Carrington Event, the solar storm of 1859 was a powerful geomagnetic storm. An incredible storm of charged particles sent by the Sun slammed into Earth’s atmosphere, overpowered it, and caused havoc on the ground. Telegraph wires, the high-tech stuff of the time, suddenly shorted out in the United States of America and Europe, igniting widespread fires. Colourful aurora, normally visible only in Polar Regions, were seen as far south as Cuba and Hawaii. →
The French Space Army
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Saturday the creation next September of a command dedicated to space, a potential French Space Army, an area essential to military operations and become a field of confrontation between powers. →
The League of Nations
The League of Nations was an international organisation, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, created after the First World War to provide a forum for resolving international disputes. Founded on January 10, 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War, it was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. →