Carl Q. Christol

International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects

The exploration and use of the space environment, consisting of outer space per se, the moon, and celestial bodies, may result in harm to persons and to property. International law and municipal law have focused on rules allowing for the payment of money damages for harm caused by space objects and their component parts, including the “payload.” Both forms of law have accepted the basic proposition that money damages should compensate for harm. Principal attention will be given in this analysis to the kinds of harm caused by space objects that are considered to be compensable under international law at the present time.

Outer space exploitability: International law and developing nations

Abstract This article outlines the principles upon which international space law is based. Space law has been successful so far in benefiting the developing countries without hampering the spacefaring nations. The principal treaty provisions that are of special interest to developing nations are discussed, and issues associated with remote sensing, communications and environmental harms are examined in detail. Since 1967 there has been a sharp change in the focus of legal concern towards ‘taking into account the particular needs of developing countries’, a principle that will be central to arrangements for the equitable sharing of the benefits of exploiting the space environment and its natural resources.

Arms control and disarmament in space: the rough road to Vienna 1984: Part II

Abstract This article examines the international legal and diplomatic questions relating to arms control and disarmament, focusing on space-based activities. These relate importantly to the development of anti-satellite satellites (ASATs) and ballistic missile defence systems (BMDs). Part I of the article examines the goal of ‘peaceful uses’ of outer space as elaborated in national policies and in international fora, the debate that has has taken place at the international level over the meaning and definition of peaceful purposes, legal manoeuvres, particularly in the UN, and US responses, and recent Soviet initiatives relating to space militarization. Part II will appear in the next issue, and will consider the US Presidential-Congressional dialogue on these questions and recent Presidential initiatives.

Scientific and legal aspects of space debris

Abstract If success is to mark future space activities measures must be formalized to mitigate, and if possible to eliminate the real and potential dangers occasioned by the presence of man-made debris in outer space. If there is to be a legal regime for space debris it will be necessary to assign a legal meaning to that term. What can be done in the immediate future to address the dangers and to formulate relevant legal principles, standards, and rules? Moreover, it will be necessary to create procedures for managing the problem. What kind of institution should be contemplated and what powers should be accorded to such an entity? Who will be the mid-wife? What impact will it have on assuring the peaceful and safe uses of outer space, per se, the Moon, and other celestial bodies?

International outer space law

Abstract This report is an edited version of a talk given by Professor Christol at the Conference on Law and Life in Space, held at the Center for Aerospace Sciences, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, in September 1986. Professor Christol reviews the principles of space law as they relate to the relations between states, through existing treaties and agreements. He offers a hope that, through ‘strategic stability’, conditions will emerge for further agreements, and for public international outer space law to become more rigorous.

The aerospace plane: Its legal and political future

Abstract Recent progress in the development of an aerospace plane calls for consideration of an applicable legal regime. Since the aerospace plane is by definition a hybrid vehicle, it is unclear whether international air space law or outer space law should be applied to it. This article outlines the practical considerations affecting the debate and compares the existing legal principles and rules that might be applied. The author argues that a new allocative theory, which would take account of the purposes of a hybrid vehicle and its actual effects, is needed to determine whether air space law or outer space law should be applied to it.

Edward Wenk, Jr. The Politics of the Ocean. Pp. v, 590. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972.

ant and personally traumatizing.&dquo; Conceived in these terms, the problem is likely to be insoluble, for the crucial positive dimension of revolutionary activity-the creation of new forms of solidarity and fraternity, for example, the changed role of women-is missing. This peculiar expression, &dquo;feeling revolutionary,&dquo; is indicative of the almost insurmountable obstacles faced by those who attempt to apply the rather tame categories of academic sociology to the study of revolutionary movements. WILLIAM LEISS York University Downsview