The Corpus Juris Spatialis
The Laws Governing Outer Space
Although the Outer Space Treaty 1967 is the most important piece of legislation designed to keep space peaceful and free of military activity, there are four other relevant pieces of the corpus juris spatialis.
The Limited Test Ban Treaty
The Limited Test Ban Treaty 1963 was the first international Treaty that expressly involved the legal regulation of space activities. In Article I (1), there is a prohibition on ‘nuclear weapon test explosion[s], or any other nuclear explosion[s] … in the atmosphere; beyond its limits, including outer space’. This Treaty was drafted at the beginning of both space exploration and nuclear development, and it demonstrates that the international community were already considering the fact that one day nuclear activities may well impact on outer space. In order to keep space free of nuclear force, as well as nuclear pollution, nuclear explosions for both testing and non-testing purposes are prohibited. Although the Treaty makes no reference to other, non-nuclear, weapons, it is clearly the first step towards a complete reservation of space for peaceful purposes.
The 1972 Liability Convention
The Liability Convention demonstrates an acceptance by the international community that space objects may be intentionally damaged or destroyed. Article II imposes absolute liability to pay compensation on States Parties for damage caused by their space objects on the surface of the Earth or to aircraft in flight, while Article III imposes fault liability on states for damage by a space object to the space object (or persons or property onboard the space object) of another state ‘caused elsewhere than on the surface of the Earth’. An exemption from absolute liability is provided by Article VI in situations where the claimant state, or the natural or judicial persons it represents, caused the damage wholly or partly by gross negligence, or by an act or omission done with intent to cause damage.
The 1979 Moon Treaty
The prohibition on the use of force in the UN Charter and the Friendly Relations Declaration is specifically applied to the Moon and other celestial bodies in the Solar System (with the exception of the Earth) by Article II of the Moon Treaty. The Treaty goes on to state in Article III that the Moon should be used ‘exclusively for peaceful purposes’ and so effectively prohibits the use of force either on the Moon (and other celestial bodies within the Solar System) or from the Moon (and other bodies) in relation to the Earth or spacecraft. Article IV (1) of the Outer Space Treaty is repeated in Article III (3) with special reference to the Moon and an express prohibition on the placing of nuclear weapons or other kinds of weapons of mass destruction in a trajectory to the Moon is added.
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty includes a prohibition on the use of missile systems designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles in space in Article V (1), which provides that ‘each party undertakes not to develop, test, or deploy anti-ballistic missile systems or components which are sea-based, air-based, space-based or mobile land-based’. Such a prohibition was important since, otherwise, it could be argued that anti-ballistic missiles could be stationed in space so long as they were only used to fire at earth-based missiles. However, the Treaty seemingly took a step back from the principle of the Outer Space Treaty that military activities should be entirely prohibited in outer space when Article XII (1) formally sanctioned the legality of space-based military surveillance as an ‘essential component of the international arms-control regime’. Ultimately though, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was effectively rendered useless when the USA withdrew from it.
Signing the Limited Test Ban Treaty
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