Cologne Commentary On Space Law

The 'Cologne Commentary on Space Law' is a three-volume annotation on the written norms of space law as enunciated through the Treaties of the United Nations and its General Assembly Resolutions. Volume I focuses on the 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, popularly known as the ?Outer Space Treaty?. A broad international authorship of twenty experts addresses the historical overview and provides a provision by-provision interpretation of the Outer Space Treaty. This Volume also includes insights into the subsequent State practice, present-day applicability and future perspectives of the Treaty. The other four UN Treaties, the 1968 Rescue Agreement, the 1972 Liability Convention, the 1975 Registration Convention and the 1979 Moon Agreement, are addressed in Volume II, which was published in 2013. Volume III (published in 2015) delves into the eight most relevant United Nations General Assembly Resolutions/Principles on space activities. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty, Volume I of the 'Cologne Commentary on Space Law' has been translated into Russian.

"The Cologne Commentary on Space Law is a three-volume annotation on the written norms of space law as enunciated through the Treaties of tjhe United Nations and its General Assembly Resolutions. With more than fifty-five years of spaceflight and a corresponding period of international outer space legislation, the rule of law has been crucial in the continuous growth of the scope of activites in outer space. The evolution of a considerable body of international space legislation has been also supplemented recently with the enactments of various national space laws and regulations."--Back covers.

"The Cologne Commentary on Space Law is a three-volume annotation on the written norms of space law as enunciated through the Treaties of tjhe United Nations and its General Assembly Resolutions. With more than fifty-five years of spaceflight and a corresponding period of international outer space legislation, the rule of law has been crucial in the continuous growth of the scope of activites in outer space. The evolution of a considerable body of international space legislation has been also supplemented recently with the enactments of various national space laws and regulations."--Back covers.

International space law is less than 50 years old. Although the work on the codification of space law started in the late 1950s, the Outer Space Treaty was only adopted in January 1967. However, much earlier than that, even as early as 1932, the first ideas about legal rules for human activities in outer space were being considered. Very little is known about these early drafts and proposals, and the pioneering work of early scholars in the field remains relatively unknown. This volume seeks to redress this by analysing the biographies and contributions to international space law of eleven such early "pioneers”, whose ground-breaking and original work helped to develop the field in important ways. The collection starts in the 1930's with the Czech author Vladimir Mandl, and dwells at length on the 1950's, the early time of space flight. The section on each "pioneer" is written by different members of the International Institute of Space Law, making this a lively, fascinating and unique collection of essays, of interest to the whole community of space lawyers.

In State Accountability for Space Debris Peter Stubbe examines the legal consequences of space debris pollution ― which he argues is a global environmental concern ― under the two distinct accountability regimes of responsibility and liability.