Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-04
Is Outer Space Free? Experts
Ponder Sovereignty Limits

profession have already given
lot of thought to space law"
Divergent doctrines, IN fact, have
sprung up concerning the princi-
Piles of law which ought to control
the range Of national sovereignty
into space.
Universe minded lawyers. who
have been kicking around the legal
problems of space-uSe for several
years now. seem agreed that these
problems fall into three major
categorieS:
Q The extent Of national sover-
eighty into space. This is the near
est problem and the one with which
we are concerned here.
Q Regulation and control Of space
craft, including Identification. rules
Of the road. navigational orders.
radio and electronic control, and so
on. This category Is considerably
of in the future.
Q Interplanetary territorial claims
and methods Of exerting them. This
category is also of in the future,
but il man reaches the moon-as
some scientists now predict-within
SO years, legal problems connected
with it are by no means out OF sight.
Sovereignty
On the question of how far above
its geographical limits the sover-
eighty of any nation extends, here
is what space-conscious lawyers are
thinking:
One school Of thought believes
national sovereignty should extend
as far up as control" can be as
serted. That is, if Nation A is able
to intercept the space craft OF
Nation B iat q maximum Of 100
miles altitude, then 100 miles up
is the extent Of Nation AS sover-
eighty in space. Champion Of this
effective control" doctrine is John
C. Cooper, director of the Institute
of International Air Law at McGll
University.
In effect. the control concept
is the law today as regards aircraft.
Each nation assumes sovereignty as
far above it's borders as it can OPP
crate its aircraft. More formally,
the 1914 Chicago Convention On
International Civil Aviation-to
which most of the nations of the
world including the United States
are parties-giveS each nation ex-
elusive control of the airspace above
it. There is no authoritative inter-
probation of what "airspace' is. but
most lawyers assume it means nav
igable airspace.
A second school of thought be-
lieves that national sovereignty
, should extend universally to the
upper limits of "airspace"; i.e.. 10
the maximum height at which air.
craft, including balloons, can func-
ton. This limit is roughly about 40
miles. While balloons have. so far.
not gone much above 20 miles and
while the current aircraft mot
rocket-crafb altitude record is
around Is miles, it is theoretically
possible for aircraft of the future
to operate up to 40 miles. Among
the opponents Of this "airspace"
doctrine is Oscar Schachter. deputy
director of the United Nations legal
department.
Beyond the upward limit Of
sovereignty, whatever that turns
out to be, the assumption is that
the law of the high seas" will
prevail In other words all space
craft would operate in complete
freedom so long as they did
not interfere with each other and
obeyed any internationally agreed
upon rules of navigation. just as
ships do on the ocean today.
Pros and Cons
Each of the space doctrines
mentioned has its advantages and
disadvantages.
The effective control" doctrine
has the advantage of being prac-
teal. 1t recognizes that princi-
pies of international law are apt
to find their way into space law.
international law is based on con-
tractual-type agreement rather
than governmental control and
thus is dependent upon the good
faith. of each nation for It's OBJ
servance) Nations are not likely
- z-Aar ;,,ko irtorr O fiono1 aoroo.
ments which limit them in areas
they can control, unless it is to
their advantage.
The control" doctrine has the
disadvantage of not being uniform.
of allowing more advanced nations
to exert sovereignty at greater
distance. Moreover, it would seem
to lead to a kind of space-anarchy
as control gradually came to be
exercised farther and farther away.
The "airspace" doctrine has the
advantage of being uniform. but
fails to take account Of the prac-
localities of the situation-which
are that nations will always try
to control areas which they think
are necessary to their security. And
that area, it now appears, will ex-
tend considerably beyond 40 miles
before very long.
Ionosphere Limit
A different limit which might
work is the ionosphere. Since the
guided missile and other controlled
but unnamed craft are dependent
on electronics, which in turn are
dependent on the ionisphere, it may
be that q control" doctrine limited