Corpus Juris Spatialis: Emerging Jurisprudence and Issues of Jurisdiction of Private Person in Space

- Karthika Raj Karn

“The Earth is the cradle of mankind, but one cannot stay in the cradle forever.”

—Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

The current Corpus Juris Spatialis is vague and consists of irregularities with respect to the issue of establishing a concrete regime of property rights on the moon and other celestial bodies or parts thereof. It is largely made up of agreements established by the U.N. However, these agreements as a whole, frequently neglect the variety of potential interactions between people in space. There are hazy jurisdictional zones in space since there are "no clear regulations... in the Convention on Outer Space controlling the exercise of State Jurisdiction in outer space." With regards the need to establish an extra-jurisdictional international area, the state parties did agree that space would be the "domain of all mankind", since "the huge cost of space exploration meant that it was a subject for government appropriations," this did not really pose a problem at the time. The climate for space exploration has drastically changed in recent decades.

In the exploration and use of space, the role of the private sector has increased. This indicates that there will soon be new kinds of ties between people in space that the treaty regimes have not foreseen and that are not necessarily representatives of a sovereign organisation. Nations will have to employ novel legal systems to impose legal rules over persons in space since the notion of jurisdiction "finds its origins in the concept of territory, the principle of sovereign equality, and non-interference with the domestic affairs of states."

For instance, a state will authorise entry into space and departure from its territory under the provisions of the space visa. The space traveler will submit himself to the state's personal authority and laws in exchange for the permission. The end result will be a system in which every person in space will always be under the authority of at least one state, and governments will be better able to carry out their responsibility to monitor non-governmental bodies in space.

Legislative jurisdiction is another issue. For instance, a nation might forbid its citizens from chewing gum in outer space. However, the state is not permitted to abuse its ability to enact laws, particularly in ways that infringing on the sovereignty and independence of another state. When a state tries to apply legislation to foreigners, problems occur. If a state adopts legislation making it illegal for anybody to physically harm one of its citizens in space, it is unclear if the state has broken the O.S.T. employing a passive personality. This regulation could be viewed as an expansion of a state's authority into space because crimes are often regulated on a territorial basis.

Due to this legislative issue, some actions may be considered crimes on Earth rather than in space (if a state has not properly extended its criminal statutes). This makes a strong case for the creation of an international space code, but it will take time to develop.