The space treaties include several different phrases defining the exploration and use of outer space. These include: "...for the benefit of all peoples (countries)”,and “...shall be the “province of all mankind." The Moon Agreement extends these ideas in the phrase, “the Moon and its resources are the common heritage of all mankind." Various legal and economic terms are now used as parallels in outer space to these phrases (but do not appear in the treaties themselves). They include: "space is a global commons,” "common pool resources," "anticommons," "res nullius” and "res communis.” In reality, none of these terms clearly fits the full legal or economic conditions of outer space, and none of them provide an adequate framework for the future handling of space resources, space exploration, or even for resolving the unavoidable future issues when there will be competing interests or major accidents occurring in outer space. This paper will review the definitions that are often misused for space activities and suggest that more pragmatic ways of insuring that the outer space environment will be effectively managed to avoid misuse, overuse, or abuse be developed. These methods include the recognition of limited property rights and developing new binding dispute resolution techniques.
展开▼
