Part I International Law and Space Law, 3 From Air Law to Space Law

In a subject such as space law, it is especially important to keep one's feet on the ground if the discussion is not to lapse into a branch of science fiction. The recipe for successful law-making, like government in general, is the art of the possible. Idealistic proposals which ignore the realities of international life can do more harm than good1 to an emergent branch of the law where many urgent problems require international good will and co-operation for their solution. The purpose of this chapter is to examine what has so far been achieved in air law, and...