Space Law - What do you want to see?

[Serendipity]

In one of those mad moments, I tried to write down some logical things I would expect to see in space law, and came to an abrupt stop!

Checking what already exists - it seems to boil down to no weapons of mass destruction in space and no government can claim any real estate in off-Earth. There are the usual extras of helping fellow astronauts in distress and an allotment method for geostationary orbits.

But beyond Earth and geostationary orbits, then what?

So I'm asking fellow chroners what you want to see?

 

[Lumens]

Free parking!

 

[Toby Frost]

I once wrote an article for the New Law Journal about SF and the law. The main thing I found was that SF tends to deal with the absence of law rather than its development, either by having chaos or the rule of an arbitrary dictator instead of a proper legal system.

I think a lot of current international nautical law would cover space travel. In the event of hypersleep, etc, it might be necessary to tweak the rules on inheritance, but the existing rules on dealing with the property of someone in a coma would probably work well enough. Lee Brimmicombe-Wood's Aliens Technical Manual mentions the Geneva convention prohibiting certain activities that we can't do now (the use of lasers to blind rather than to kill, the equipping of robots with weapons, etc), because the principles underlying those decisions already exist.

Robots, specifically androids, would raise problems, but those would be ethical as much as legal, as there is legal precedent for people acquiring rights and being effectively recognised as fully human by the law as society moves on.

Of course, this assumes that the laws of physics remain about the same. In a setting with telepathy, time travel and the like, the rules could become very strange.

 

[Serendipity]

I once wrote an article for the New Law Journal about SF and the law. The main thing I found was that SF tends to deal with the absence of law rather than its development, either by having chaos or the rule of an arbitrary dictator instead of a proper legal system.

I think a lot of current international nautical law would cover space travel. In the event of hypersleep, etc, it might be necessary to tweak the rules on inheritance, but the existing rules on dealing with the property of someone in a coma would probably work well enough. Lee Brimmicombe-Wood's Aliens Technical Manual mentions the Geneva convention prohibiting certain activities that we can't do now (the use of lasers to blind rather than to kill, the equipping of robots with weapons, etc), because the principles underlying those decisions already exist.

Robots, specifically androids, would raise problems, but those would be ethical as much as legal, as there is legal precedent for people acquiring rights and being effectively recognised as fully human by the law as society moves on.

Of course, this assumes that the laws of physics remain about the same. In a setting with telepathy, time travel and the like, the rules could become very strange.

Thanks Toby... I think there's a lot of potential science fiction stories in the making here... now where did I leave that Rumpole of the Bailey book?

 

[SilentRoamer]

I think this is an interesting question, considering as we move hundreds of years into the future it could be entirely possible there is a large multi generational colony off planet.

 

[opuscosmos]

There are that many worlds, who is going to police them all? Why should any government have jurisdiction to an infinite universe? Surely the goodness of humankind and common sense should prevail, but you never know.

 

[J Riff]

Protection from any human trafficking races? A big weapon that can destroy the whole solar system rather than letting it fall into the wrong tentacles?

 

[Lumens]

Actually, that is an interesting plot device; how could humans manage to mess up outer space too... There would have to be a lot of us, with powerful resources. The laws, and policing, to keep ourselves in check would possibly follow something along the lines of today's international laws and the UN.

Protection from any human trafficking races? A big weapon that can destroy the whole solar system rather than letting it fall into the wrong tentacles?

 

[J Riff]

Yeah, the empty Galaxy discovers humanity. Imaginary ET races cannot be enslaved, even if 'we' declare ALL planets as enemy planets. Build large weapons, I say, and wait for them to destroy us, like silverfish in the wainscotting..... psssht... there went those annoying pink fleshapoids and their fire weapons. Would serve 'us' right. * )

 

[Stuart Suffel]

Hmmm, a space sheriff-lawyer, defending the rights of newly declared cyborg lifeforms across the final frontier...

I likes it!

 

[Gonk the Insane]

So I'm asking fellow chroners what you want to see?

No littering. Nobody likes flying into space debris
Salvage laws.
Something around responding to distress calls?

no government can claim any real estate in off-Earth

Is that really enough, though? What about corporations or individuals? I've read stories where either/both claim prime real estate; I'd argue either would be worse than a government owning a potential colony/mining site.

What about mining (e.g. asteroids) and ownership of resources? That could be a thorny one, I think.

Have you read Cixin Liu's Dark Forest trilogy (beginning with Three-Body Problem), @Serendipity? There's some great ideas in there about potentially dumb things the human race could do in a galaxy where we're not alone and our neighbours might not be the "let's welcome them with a cake" kind. I can't think of a way of explaining it better without dropping some serious spoilers but within the universe of the novels there's quite a lot of ideas that might be relevant.

 

[Serendipity]

No littering. Nobody likes flying into space debris
Salvage laws.
Something around responding to distress calls?

Is that really enough, though? What about corporations or individuals? I've read stories where either/both claim prime real estate; I'd argue either would be worse than a government owning a potential colony/mining site.

What about mining (e.g. asteroids) and ownership of resources? That could be a thorny one, I think.

Have you read Cixin Liu's Dark Forest trilogy (beginning with Three-Body Problem), @Serendipity? There's some great ideas in there about potentially dumb things the human race could do in a galaxy where we're not alone and our neighbours might not be the "let's welcome them with a cake" kind. I can't think of a way of explaining it better without dropping some serious spoilers but within the universe of the novels there's quite a lot of ideas that might be relevant.

Thanks for the pointer. I haven't read Cixin Liu's Dark Forest trilogy, but when I get a chance will look i up.

I suspect space law as it develops will have to have a darned good understanding of basic physics.Which could be interesting as it implies software enforcing space law or people learning to have a very good understanding of the subject.

 

[Danny McG]

I would think that the species with the most powerful high tech battlefleet decides what it wants space law to be

 

[Dave]

No littering.

There are food wrappers at the summit of Mt. Everest. There are floating 'islands' of plastic bottles in the Pacific Ocean. There are beaches of Lego washed up from broken shipping containers. Until we stop all that I can't have hope that any such Law will be obeyed in space. Isn't one solution to our nuclear waste problems to send it directly into the Sun? Meanwhile, the Moon (and planets) are already littered with discarded spacecraft, not to mention golf balls!

 

[SilentRoamer]

Dave,

I find myself liking but not liking your comment.

My only hope is that we develop to a point where waste can be treated as something other than waste. Although it feels like a pipe dream to me and I never see any real off world development for humanity, but hey at least we have the Asteroid Belt and much more of the solar system to trash...

Would be pretty funny if human beings faced destruction by an intergalactic organisation whose sole job is to destroy species (sentient or not) deemed too invasive and uncaring for their environment.

Serves us right.

 

[Toby Frost]

Cue the inevitable mental image of the bloated, decrepit face of Barron Harkonnen, giving orders to thuggish simpleton Beast Rabban: "Steal the spice, butcher the Fremen, kill Paul Atreides... and shut down the Sandworm Preservation Authority."