Space law as a branch of international law

Abstract

‘Need I apologize for my choice of subject? Some may say it belongs to the realm of exotics of law. Some may ask: Why deal with issues so remote when there are so many much closer to us still awaiting a solution? Why reach so far?’ With these words the late Judge Manfred Lachs introduced his 1964 lecture at the Hague Academy of International Law on the topic ‘The International Law of Outer Space’. The subject is no longer exotic today. Within the three decades following the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, the use of space technology is now widespread, not only for military but also for civilian purposes, including satellites for communications, meteorology, television and radio broadcasting and other applications. Remote sensing data is employed in agriculture and resource management as well as in environmental monitoring. Writing a quarter of a century later than Lachs, in a prologue to a collection of articles by “a new generation of space law scholars’, K.-H. Böckstiegel notes:‘Space law is coming of age. What started out as an exotic field of law and then continued with the discussion and codification of legal rules, following the development of exploratory space activities, is now confronted with the challenge of arriving at just and effective rules for the use of space serving many practical and conflicting economic, political and military interests.’