Space Law and Metalaw - A Synoptic View
![handle is hein.space/pininsl0004 and id is 423 raw text is: Space Law and Metalaw - A Synoptic View
By Andrew G. Haley
Next year man will take his first step into outer space when an artificial satellite
is launched from the eastern coast of Florida. Marking one phase of the International
Geophysical Year, observations of the small sphere are expected to yield Invaluable
information to scientists concerning the outmost reaches of the Earth's atmosphere.
Slight as this beginning may seem, it is viewed as highly significant by thoughtful
persons in fields other than science. In this article Andrew G. Haley, a former
president of the American Rocket Society and a practicing attorney, considers a
few of the roblems which may arise when man's efforts to bridge space succeed.
Whst law, e asks, will govern men when they leave this planet, with its hodge-
podge of sovereign assertions?
Me. Haley Rfst cites dhe need for studying the question at this time, and prasceeds
to draw, from the past, principles applicable to the present and the future. Having
concluded that our present system of International low is not founded solidly on
natural law, he examines the need for regulating space travel, and suggests an
organization for carrying out thst task.
Earlier in his discussion Mr. .ley referred to a Spanish philosopher who INved
four centuries ago and who called for recognition of the New World aborigines
as equals. Subsequent generations of European colonists Id little attention to that
advice. Mr. Haley ends by proposing two cardinal rules fr space a loration. Had
these rules been observed by man on his own world, the Empire of the Incas would
still perhaps flourish, and Tasmanian aboigines might not be extict.
la this first approximation of an ap- she essential conflicts of law, states that our
poach to space jurisprudence there will legal concepts must be as absolutely just
considered basic principles of anthro- as the concept of Kant's categorical im-
pocentric law and metalaw. On the one perative--o law that is unconditional and
hand we will consider the relationships absolute, and whose validity does not de-
of man ia a vis man in his ambit, and pend on any ulterior motive or end. Kent
on the other hand the relationships of man states as one fofirmulation: Act only on
with intelligent beings who may be dif- such a maxim as you can will that it should
ferent in kind and subject to different become a universal law. Again Kant
frames of existence, says, So act as to treat humanity, whether
Anthropocentric law is simply the law in your own person or in another, always
of human beings. Corpus Juris Secundum as an end, and never as only a means.
states that the term law is frequently So far we have dealt only in pure defini.
employed as referring to a science of tion of anthropocentric law. We have not
principles; and, specifically, a science or considered rights or wrongs, nor the con-
system of principles or rules of human cept of the fas or nefra as in the Roman
conduct; a system of rules and principles, jursprudence. In our later discussions we
in which the rights of parties are pro, will deal broadly on these matters in con-
tected and enforced; a system of rules con, nection with human exploitation of space.
formable to. the standards of justice and But before proceeding to such specifics we]
on an enlarged view of the relations of will define and distinguish metalaw.
persons and things as they practically P Masit
exist; a mass of principles classified, re-
duced to order, and put in the shape of To mesalaw we can project only one
rules, agreed on by ascertaining the coin- principle of human law, namely, the starki
man consent of mankind; rules of civil concept of sbsolute equity. The natural:
conduct for the common good; rules law, as we know Is, is anthropocentric in:
promulgated by government as a means kind, and while such low must govern in
to an ordered society; the enforcement f pace among human beings (as will be
iuslice among men. It it also said that Observed later) it nevertheless is the law:
the very definition of law is san e asncti of human nature alone. Under the con-
Jubens honesta et prohibens contraria. pt of absolute equity we must project the
lpossibility of an indefinite number of::
Many Defiditions natures, and therefore of an indefinite:
The thinkers and the great works of number of frameworks of natural laws.
history have variously defined the naked The fundamental discipline of metalase
essence of anthropocentric law in one may be stated in terms quite as simple s1
simple concept: Aristotle, We should be. those quoted above from the great givers
have to friends as we would wish friends of the anthropocentric law. The maxim
to behave to us; the Babylonian Talmud, of metalaw which inexorably follows is
What is hateful to thyself do not unto D unto othrs is they would have you
thy neighbor; Epictetus, Therefore if do unto them. Tes contrasting maxims
anyone would take these two words to express the Great Rules with such stark
heart and use them for his own guidance, Simplicity as to be perhas the most beauti-
he will be almost without sin. These two ful of all ideas express by man.
words are bear and forbear; the New During all the long centuries of human
Testament, Therefore all things whatso- civilization no law giver has framed the
ever ye would that men should do to you, Golden Rule in the language of the Great
do ye even so to them: for this is the law Rule of metalaw. This is probably due so
and the prophets; Seneca, You must ex- some inherent necessity to relate all human
pect to be treated by others as you your- law to oneself. It is a law for one frame
self have treated them; Ahikar, Ac- of existence. But with equal positiveness
cording as I do to you so also to me; the Golden Rule has no application what-
Abdullah Ansari, Treat others as thou soever in the field of metalaw. In metalaw
wouldst be treated, dispense not to others we deal with all frames of existence-wish
what thou likest not for thyself; Bidpai, sapient beings different in kind. We must
Men are used as they use others; Mo- do unto others in different frames of ref
hammed, Do good unto other as God erence as they would have done unto
has done unto thee; Sadi, Accept for them. To treat others as we would desire
thyself what thou wouldst accept for so be treated might well mean their des.
others; Confucius, What I do not wish truction. We must treat then as they de-
others to do unto me, that also I wish not sire to be treated. This is the aimply ex-
to do unto them; Mahabharata, This is pressed but vastly significant premise of
the sum of all true righteousness; deal metalaw.
with others as thou wouldst thyself be dealt Dealing with Ales
by. Do nought to others which if done to
thee, would cause thee pain; Sutra- But what of the problem of evil? We
Kritanga, A man should treat all living know that there are many sunsie stars,
creatures as he himself wobld be treated; .,ie older and some younger than our
Rabbi Hillel, Whatsoever is hateful unto Sun. We may find inferior beings, and
thee, do it not unto thy neighbor. This is these ve may keep from harming us by
the whole of the Torah, the rest is bt prely protective means. From superior
commentary. Thus it will be seen that btgs we may expect wise tolerance of
all of the precepts of the Great Lawgivers, surselves, because such tolerance would
even that of the heterodox Hindu religion fow from thesr lack of fear. The habitat
of Jainism, are, in each case, starkly an- of evil will be the single frame of exit-
thropocentric. tence of the nefarious one and may be
dealt with by his own community. In the
Unciosfdltissa Concepts human frame our law mutt be uncon.
Speaking specifically with respect tsapace ditioned and absolute in our control of the
lawv, Dr. Wef Heinrich, Prince of Han- relationships of our own kind with all
if we do, we mna% find ourselves not the
triumphant pertrIators of evil oppressi.on,
ill the prisoners of the lust.
.At isis Juins tse must)i pisse and alk.
why wave s ine and energy in speculating
'is Iieww.
Why Discuss
Metalaw
The activity would ie fruitless if sap.
ient life is unknown elsewhere in the uni-
eerie atd fhe reference to an indefinite
number of natures would be meaning less.
There is little evidence to indicate that
there is other intelligent life in our Solar
System. But our own galaxy, the Milky
Way, cotains forty bilion stars, many
larger and some smaller than our own Sun,
assil in Creatiin se kniw there are as least
losry billort such galaxies. We know that
the sun has numerous planets. We know
that our planet tems with intelligent
beings. We know that fsorty thousand sun-
like stars have been catalogued. Is it prob.
able therefore, that other stars have planets,
and other plarsets are inhabited by intel-
ligent beings? What are the odds on these
propositions? We may inquire of the man
who believes that a personal God Is the
Creator of all things. You believe that
all things were created by God for
His own glory, but do you believe that
the manifestations of God's glory are
confined to this one world and o man-
kind? The lawyer may ask the questions
but he cannot answer them. Implicit in
Andrew G. Haley is a praectling St.
torney who specializes in the legal aseecs
of radio, television, hydroelectric power,
and all branches of rocket propisaion.
Formerly counsel for the Federal Comn-
munications Commission, he was legal ad-
viaor to the laternational Telecommuni
cations Conference at Attantle City, N. J.,
in 1947.
Mr. Haley was a delegate to the later,
ational Astronautical Congress which
met at Rome last September. A past presi.
dent of the American Rocket Society, he
is currently chairman of the SocIety's
Board of Directors
'Though he Is a lawyer by profesalos
Mr Haley has devored a major part of his
lifetime to working with my hands in
rocketry.
the very statement of the questions, how-
ever, is the possibility that the answers
may be affirmative.
Life on Other Worlds
Slme scientists take a more alirmative
view ion the existence of extra-terrestrial
life. Shapley summarizes his views by
stating that biochemistry and microbi-
ology, with the assistance of geophysics,
astronomy and other sciences have gone
so far in bridging the gap between the
inanimate and the living that we can no
hnger doubat whenever the physics, chem-
istry and climates are right on a planet's
surface, life will emerge and persist. He
adds that he is not suggesting, of course,
that home is repeated. There are millions
tif variatians on the animal theme.
The next logical question asserts itself:
why not devote all this effort rs developing
tour own world before going sit other
worlds?
Ins tinting out the numersou, advantages
I spacc rniiiri tiin. These are, brieflit
thit the php ical resources of our planes
ire limited: tha the ticrasing pressure of
litputation my firci ui to other wrlds;
tls iis nl through sp.ie flight can main
kinld ind a pemaiinent outlet for its ag-
gressie and pinecing nstincts; that the
advent of spic travel will produce an Vx
pansion of scientific kinowledge unparalle-
ei in histiry: and lie concludeos that even
if there were nit a single good scientific
reason for going io the other Planets mist
would still want to go there just the same,
Space Travel Near
Malan justifies space exploiration on sim-
ilar bases. He mentions exhaustion of en.
crgy sources on the earth, the evolution of
man to a considerably higher state thans
he has presently attained; the fact that
some people may become dissatisfied with
our present society and seek another, and
the desire to make contact with other in-
telligent beings.
Haber states that the Universe is a lab
oratory in which nature performs her in-
imitable experiments and suggests that
we cannot adequately observe them from
the earth and that these experiments
should be studied from. all points of van-
tage; further, that we will have to make
great strides in the future to be able ti
feed and contain the rapidly growing pop-
intion of the world.
In a remarkable study Colonel Davis
points out History indicates that new
scientific discoveries may reasonably be ex-
pected to make the conquest of space occur
sooner and probably easier than presendy
predicted. . . . The progress of science is
not linear, but rises exponentially at a very
high rate.... I have come to the conclusion
that our usual estimate of 25 to 50 years
before man's first flight to the planets is
probably much too conservative. . . . The
problems in psychology and sociology re-
lated to the survival of a crew under the
conditions of space Right are not simple,
but they are highly analogous to cer-
tain present day problems in the operation
of submarines, the manning of distant out-
posts, etc., and experience with present day
problems will do much to provide answers
to these serious questions. . . . We must
see to it that research in the auxiliary pro-
lems is carried on so that when the nec-
estary propulsion system has been given to
Us the auxiliary problems will also have
been solved; and we can perhaps, much
sooner than any of us think, actually em-
bark on the first flight to the planets. As
in the case of every new venture of man,
the fundamental basis of space flight is
thus creative imagination,
Is Speculation
Premature?
Finally, we may ask-why deal with
anthropocentric space law at this time,
Meyer agrees that the legal problems
of outer space Should be discussed now,
although up to now no human being has
entered outer space.
Hanover argues that the future alone
will tell if the problems will ever become
acute. Our present technical development,
however, points to she possibility that the
first ttempt on a large scale at penetrating
into space might be undertaken in the not
too distant future. He states: Let us
hope that legal science will keep step with
the technical development when this hap-
pens and that it -will not be caught unpre-
pared when confronted with the legal
questions presenting themselves at such an
occasion.
Cooper sums up the situation in which
the world finds itself in regard to space
law, today neither lawyers nor govern
mets are prepared to stair the legal flight
rules applicable to presently operating
rockets and planned satellites . . . science
and engineering have far out-stripirtd the
law. Such delay may be normal where
legal rules must depend on known and ac-
cepted factual situations, but the gap be-
tween technological and legal progress
mut never be permitted to become too
wvide.
Effects on Allens
Man has long speculIted on creatures
i.i-
gflaintal u as. n speculaton with re-
six o I,- te Elisciplines of tIcialaw prob.
-1ls ' % il Irosrne prolific as decades go on.
The l i h ilaw can (in, however. is to
li the ofanifestatson oman and his
rtifuIni, of which we are it ignorant, and
having lisrd them iie myi speculate wis,
some suistification ts to their Possible ef.
fects on other crrisures
Merely is d9n I iAmple let os very brifi
consider the kind o phenomena sweciaEcd
With manl's Right in space. Whrefor,
what might be the effects on other creal.
ures of (1) Coimmurncations system: (a)
elctromagnetic waves; (b) light signalling
(photons); (c) in an atmosphere-of preA
sure waves (2) Propulsion: (a) infrared
rays, from heat; (h) radiation from a
nuclear process; (c) in an atmosphere-tf
pressure waves (0) Man's physical and
mental properties: (a) parapsychologic.l
tir telepathic impacts (b) body olkenSes and
germ dissemination: (c) impact of ideas
and customs of man.
Unexplored Field
The foregoing fragmentary thoughts
serve to illustrate the vast field of speco.
lation inherent in metalaw. We are now
only at the sympathetic stage which may
he illustrated by the despair of the Chinese
In trying to stand the bodfy odor of the
white man on his first encounter.
In the not distant future, lawyers, scien.
tits and sociologists will undertake studies
of a substantive statement of metalaw and
as a by-product of these studies our own
anthropocentric law undoubtedly will be
improved.
Even at this time we may postulate a
profoundly necessary rule of space ex-
ploration, namely, in any Instance where
there is reason to believe that life exists on
a planet, no earth space ship may land
without having satisfactorily ascertained
that (1) the landing and contact will in-
jure neither the explorer nor the explored;
and, (2) until the earth ship has been in.
vited to land by the explored. Butt the
impatient one may say, this is like a re-
quirement that man must make intelligible
communication with an amoebl The
answer is that nevertheless the regulation
must be adhered to without exception, or
we will project into space the bleak and
devastating geocentric crimes of mankind.
Further, we must conquer certain p rob.
lems of semantics before we are worthy of
space travel beyond our Solar System. The
regulation is so necessary that it would
be better to destroy mankind than allow
its violation.
Value of the Past
In considering the anthropocentric law
as applied to space we may well examine
the function of the surveyor's transit. We
must have a means of looking back to get
our bearing, or we will be unable to set a
straight course in the future. Because such
pursuit seems more useful, we will look
more ott the modicum of good thinking,
and neglect the plethora of the bad. By
searching the record of the past, we may
find that no useful purpose was served b
burning Socinus and Servetus for their al-
leged derelictions, so why burn HI-eisen.
berg or Yukawa for their doctrine of the
principles of uncertainty to saify the cult
of mechanical positivism. Or, more in
point, we should take a look again at what
n Ipened to the Indians to forfend against
alacticide; we must consider colonialism
to make certain such practices are never
permitted in space, and so on. We must
cimb, so .s realistic and veracious plateau of
evaluation.
Finding a Sound Basis
For Space Law
Mtlrn Ikgil writers, largely Influenced
Ib' rsius, regard international law as
nothing more than proitive law, that is,
law nactled by It governmssent for Else reg.
uliion of a society. it other words, the
present day concelit of international I law
recognizes only those rules of linw which
Ire aidopted by govenments, which are ac.
ceptrd sy she IUiges of courts of isstice.
swhich ar- pplied Iby them in decisionst jf
cvi , in0 which tnler into rite iiulgments
anIdi are rsecuted. As Hackwosrtlh sts, in.
irsationil law polesses the that.it rv,
Usmmon usiumicipal law. 1 It st
ing is ilhaestratetd hs the lisw gesvernmpt I
H AR VARD LAW WRECORD
ilUIIRSDAY, NOVEMBER 0,. 19%6](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.space/pininsl0004&div=36&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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