As If We Don't Have Enough Lawyers Already

[BristolCavendish]

A kid down the street (Millennial no less) is trying to get into a prestigious law school and hoping to design his own curriculum pertaining to astro-jurisprudence, a specialty title he concocted for the future needs assessment on his application. Citing the United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967, he feels there will be upcoming litigation on a variety of fronts including (but not limited to) international & intergalactic trade agreements, labor union arbitrations, divorce/personal injuries, real estate/zoning regulations and environmental protection laws et al. Since travel time from Earth to Mars (the closest potentially life-sustaining planet) is roughly seven years, he has yet to determine the best site for a courtroom (although many cases could be conducted via teleconferencing and/or cyberspace interaction). Welcome to the creative and questionable minds of today's youth (although it sounds more like just another way to milk his parent's financial resources for an additional 20+ years).

On the other hand, the actual UN treaty (as written) does leave a lot of loose ends available for exploiting. The question is, will technological advances allow him enough time to actually fulfill his dream of becoming an outer-space attorney?

http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwor...acetreaty.html

[yannis]

I am fond of the principles set out by the Treaty (like with many UN Treaties there is an element of idealism and utopia which i like) but i doubt national governments' willingness to abide to these principles once outer space exploration (and exploitation) finally advance.
It is a very interesting topic.

[ugazag]

I believe Ole Miss may have a law review devoted to space law. There are a lot of legal issues with sattelites and space junk. Fortunately, my area of practice has been going strong since Cain and Abel.

[DJ TT 2002]

Res Ipsa Loquitur

[2ltdjorn]

There is international space law, I once knew the chief he was a navy jag retired out as brigadier general. He had 200 lawyers under him.

[AzPaul]

Space, the final overbilling frontier

[BristolCavendish]

Originally Posted by AzPaul

Space, the final overbilling frontier

Great quote and insight on your part.

[77T]

Courtroom was established before the Space Treaty:
http://www.icj-cij.org/court/index.php?p1=1

But he is prescient in the abstract that States will inevitably come into some conflict regarding the framework of their own legislation on the topic...maybe he's onto a worthwhile career.