American Bar Association Article

Making Space Matter: As commercial prospects in space grow, a niche practice may be moving into the mainstream

From ABAJournal (March 2008) Getting ahold of a space lawyer can be difficult these days. Lots of lawyers travel lots, but for Joanne Gabrynowicz, director of the Air and Space Law Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law, it’s at least one way to measure growing global interest in the “rule of space.”

First, she was in South Africa, meeting with various government ministers to advance a plan for building something called the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. Then, after hosting a space law conference in Washington, D.C., she was on to China for a lecture on space law to the third nation to put people in space. “When it was only superpowers there, the law of space was a little more straightforward,” she says. “It’s always been a very international practice, but now almost every country in the world wants a seat at the table.”

More HERE.

Most of you will have become acquainted with some of the facts in the story above, particularly the "claim" by the recent Ol' Miss Grad, in some accounts, to be the first to specialize in Space Law. Not true, but the context coming from an above average popular periodical, as Media On Dead Trees used to be called, is still, shall we say...interesting.

Tags: aba, law, space

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Permalink Reply by Caleb on January 1, 2009 at 1:58pm: Thanks for the impressive read there. I get the impression that the ABA article encapsulates the current state and history of Space Law as a whole. It definitely brings up an interesting point (among the many), that according to the fifth Space Treaty, the Moon and all Celestial Bodies are shared for the common benefit of Mankind.

While this is a beautiful view, it's not entirely practical if we want to encourage Space activity beyond the scope of government use. As it stands by international law, we can profit from an orbital industry, but beyond those bounds things become trickier.

Would it be better to wait until international bodies rework Space Law, or as the article points out, do we act as Branson and ask forgiveness rather than permission? I'm not familiar enough with Public nor Private International Law to have an opinion on this...yet. Or maybe I'll side with Branson on this, and push the governing bodies to act through our own actions.

My thoughts on this are fairly broad and there are obviously points for and against everything above. None the less, a great read! I've sent it along to a bunch of my friends who will enjoy it too. Thanks!; ▶ Reply to This