The Case for Lunar Property Rights 387
longacre writes "Who owns the moon? In a thought provoking piece, Instapundit blogger/law professor Glenn Reynolds gives us a brief history of earthlings' discourse on lunar property rights, a topic which has stagnated since the 1979 Moon Treaty. Is it possible to claim good title on land that is not under the dominion of a nation? He goes on to plead his case for the creation of lunar real estate legislation. From the article: 'Property rights attract private capital and, with government space programs stagnating, a lunar land rush may be just what we need to get things going again.'"
Hill of beans (Score:4, Informative)
In other words, property rights are unenforcable, and none of the existing governments on earth have any real say. What government is going to spend 10 billion on space hardware to settle a legal property ownership/squatting claim?
In yet other words, possession is 9/10 of the law. Go ahead and argue about the other 1/10, because you don't matter.
Heinlein (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Possession is nine tenths of the law. (Score:4, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_law [wikipedia.org]
Thats one of the reasons that nations with space craft on the Moon, Venus and Mars are adamant about the objects not being abandoned, similar to the US listening devices clamped onto Soviet communication cables saying who owned said super-secret listening devices.
So, for example, Mars Pathfinder is not derelict, but jetsam, flotsam or lagan which is remains the property of their original owner. The American bird that was shot down by the Navy this year, might technically be a derelict and could be salvaged legally, had it come down mostly intact.
Spacex and Bigelow are counting on this (Score:3, Informative)
No doubt about it; Bigelow and Spacex will be pushing private ownership hard.
go there, stake a claim, defend it, it's yours (Score:4, Informative)
Put aside all the theories, bar-room lawyers, treaties that aren't worth a dam' and the fools who are willing to hand over money here on terra-firma. All that will go out of the window (or would that be viewing port) as soon as someone finds a resource there that can turn a profit. Once that happens you've got a very slow gold rush on your hands. All the people back on earth who paid for a "claim" can yell all they want, they'll be drowned out by everyone else laughing.
However the chances of anyone, or country, raising the capital to go there and set up a commercial enterprise are very small. The chances of them being able to turn whatever they find back into ca$h are even smaller and the chances of making more than the hundreds of billions they spend are infinitesimal.
That's the reason so few people live in the Gobi Desert. It's thousands of times more hospitable than the moon (or mars, for that matter) and millions of times cheaper to get to. However there's nothing there worth having.
Re:Possession is nine tenths of the law. (Score:4, Informative)
It isn't and it doesn't.
Mars Pathfinder isn't any of those four legal states - it is clearly and plainly the property of the USG. Period. This is plainly spelled out in the various treaties that address the issue.
This same principle is found in Maritime Law, where government property always remains government property unless the government specifically gives up jurisdiction. (This is the legal principle under which the US Government supervised the salvage of the Hunley - since the USG had assumed control of all CSA property at the close of the Civil War, and neither government had ever yielded title.)
The various treaties that address the topic are quite clear - in space, as on earth, government property remains government property forever unless specifically yields title.
Re:Possession is nine tenths of the law. (Score:3, Informative)
1) Columbus wasn't the first to "discover" North America. Vikings found it about four centuries before he was even born, and nomadic people from the Asian continent were already there.
2) Columbus discovered Cuba (and thought he was in India) which leaves the entire North American Continent proper up for grabs even if you ignore #1.
=Smidge=
Re:Possession is nine tenths of the law. (Score:4, Informative)
Columbus never went to NORTH america - he mostly visited Bahmas and Cuba and some of the other island there and some part of south america.
Re:go there, stake a claim, defend it, it's yours (Score:3, Informative)
That applies only if you intend to go there and stay. If you plan on coming back to Earth and then selling a product you acquired from the moon, you're going to be subject to whatever laws exist in that nation or nations, on Earth.
Re:location, location, location (Score:5, Informative)
Helium-3. Lots on the moon, little on Earth. Can be used to build fusion reactors.
http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/041126084122.6pp9f0wx.html [spacedaily.com]