Freedom Of Flight In The Airspace Over The High Seas And Its Practical Aspects

Freedom of overflight is in large part uncontroversial. However, several recent international disputes and subsequent scrutiny of the exercise of coastal State jurisdiction in international airspace have highlighted the problematic legal nature of this freedom – namely, how a State’s ‘creeping jurisdiction’ may encroach upon the rights of other States. This groundbreaking book examines in depth the ambiguous areas at the nexus of air law and the law of the sea with respect to the balance between coastal State jurisdiction and freedom of overflight, thus providing greater legal certainty regarding State actions involving overflight in international airspace. The author identifies and thoroughly examines three highly salient matters impacting overflight in international waters: the right of a State to establish safety zones around maritime constructions and the legitimacy of extending these safety zones to the airspace; what, if anything, under international civil aviation law specifically, prohibits a State from discriminating against the aircraft of another State in international airspace within its flight information region; and whether air defence identification zones can be justified as customary international law. Also considered is the law of the sea concerning transit passage through international straits and archipelagic sea lanes as applied to airspace users. This is the first detailed study of overflight to combine the perspectives of international civil aviation law and the law of the sea. As such, it presents a comprehensive analysis of the legality of attempts by coastal States to exercise jurisdiction in international airspace over aircraft registered in other States, thus taking a giant step towards determining what freedom of overflight entails by establishing its legitimate limitations. It will be welcomed by practitioners, policymakers, and academics concerned with international transportation, national defence, international trade, and other areas of international law.

In 1968, the American scholar John Cobb Cooper stated that too little attention has been given to the legal control of flight above the high seas which cover a large percentage of the earth's surface. With certain notable exceptions this has remained true despite the acknowledged commercial, strategic and environmental significance of the airspace over the high seas.

Proceedings of the International Conference on Air and Space Policy, Law, and Industry for the 21st Century, held in Seoul from 23-25 June 1997.

This rich collection focuses on the broad research interests of Professor Nico Schrijver, in whose honour it was created. Written by a wide range of international scholars affiliated with Leiden University's Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, the essays reflect Professor Schrijver's important contribution to academia and practice, particularly in the fields of sovereignty, human rights and sustainable development. The authors aim to reflect on changes in international law and on new developments in the diverse fields they explore. "Furthering frontiers" is the research theme of the Grotius Centre. Its exploration in this thought-provoking volume is a fitting homage to Nico Schrijver's achievements on the occasion of his retirement as Chair of Public International Law of Leiden University.

In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.

Sovereignty and jurisdiction are legal doctrines of a complex nature, which have been subject to differing interpretations by scholars in legal literature. The tridimensionality of state territory recognised under customary international law subsists until the present but there are other territories that do not or cannot belong to any state or political entity which also must be accounted for in legal theory. The issues surrounding sovereignty and jurisdiction are likely to become ever more pressing as globalisation, growing pressure on resources and the need for energy and national security become acute, and the resolution of special delimitation disputes seems likely to become a vital question in the twenty-first century. As a result of the fast pace of technological developments in air and space activities and the massive increases in air transportation , satellite communications and space exploration, the need for scholars and practitioners to sharpen their appreciation of the legal and political issues becomes crucial. This book will focus primarily on the issues of sovereignty jurisdiction and control in airspace and outer space and their effects on public and private activities, but it will also look at related issues pertaining to the Seas and Antarctica. Commercial exploitation, resource control and the international regime regulating contractual obligations in relation to transportation of goods and services over all forms of territory will be examined to the extent that they are necessary to explain jurisdictional rights and duties over territory. Older problems of international law such as crimes in the air and airspace trespass are treated along with newer developments such as space tourism as well as growing demand for private ownership and involvement in outer space exploitation. The book goes on to consider the distinction between airspace and outer space and puts forward legal criteria which would allow for the resolution of the spatial delimitation dispute. These criteria would determine where in spatial terms the exclusive sovereignty of airspace ends and where outer space – the province of all mankind – begins, and contribute to the jurisprudence of territorial sovereignty and jurisdiction.