Private Law, Public Law, Metalaw and Public Policy in Space

Book excerpt: The law of outer space is rapidly evolving to adapt to changes in the economic drivers as well as advancements in technological capabilities. The contents of this book are a reflection of this changing environment as evidenced in the writings of the second and third generations of space lawyers. Theoretical aspects of space law are explored by chapters relating to fundamental concepts central to the corpus juris spatialis. Practical aspects of space law are probed by examinations into international and domestic regulation of commercial activities, with particular emphasis on African, Asian, and European perspectives. International policy considerations are scrutinized in relation to military uses of outer space. The scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is the subject of a concise history of the discipline vis-a-vis the role of the SETI Permanent Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), and also of a study of the policy and other ramifications of social media in the event of the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrial beings. The book concludes with the republication of the seminal and highly influential Relations With Alien Intelligences The Scientific Basis of Metalaw by Dr. Ernst Fasan, first published in 1970. Scholar, author, and attorney Ernst Fasan was among the original space lawyers, a small, pioneering group of visionaries who recognized that the movement of man into space must be accomplished without the shackles of history and in an environment free from the threat of the use of space as an instrument of armed aggression. The influence of Dr. Fasan has extended beyond the international legal community to the broader scientific community, especially to the field of astrobiology, as he pursued groundbreaking investigations into what could be the ultimate in legal relationships - metalaw - the interaction of sentient beings from different planets. The contributors to this Liber Amicorum are among those who can trace their own work to the foundations of space law placed in part by Ernst Fasan.