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Full-Text Articles in Law
Satmed: Legal Aspects Of The Physical Layer Of Satellite Telemedicine, Stephen Rooke
Satmed: Legal Aspects Of The Physical Layer Of Satellite Telemedicine, Stephen Rooke
Michigan Journal of International Law
In 2003, Paul Hunt, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights' Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, presented a report on the global availability of health care. Special Rapporteur Hunt argued that states are obligated to implement a right to health. Included in this right is the obligation "to ensure that no international agreement or policy adversely impacts upon the right to health, and that .. . international organizations take due account of the right to health, as well as the obligation of international assistance and cooperation, in all policy-making matters." One area Hunt left unexplored in his report was …
Asat-Isfaction: Customary International Law And The Regulation Of Anti-Satellite Weapons, David A. Koplow
Asat-Isfaction: Customary International Law And The Regulation Of Anti-Satellite Weapons, David A. Koplow
Michigan Journal of International Law
The argument in this Article proceeds through several steps. As background, Part I outlines the current and projected future human uses of outer space, emphasizing the plethora of civilian and military applications that now rely on satellites. The United States, especially, but other countries, too, are coming to depend on multiple space assets for the performance of a wide array of vital functions; the investment is huge, diverse, and growing, despite the costs and natural perils of operating in the harsh exoatmospheric environment.
The Need For An Effective Liability Régime For Damage Caused By Debris In Outer Space, James P. Lampertius
The Need For An Effective Liability Régime For Damage Caused By Debris In Outer Space, James P. Lampertius
Michigan Journal of International Law
The purpose of this Note is to point out the failure of the current liability system to provide for an adequate legal mechanism of recovery for damage or loss of life caused by collisions with space debris. International responsibility for national activities in outer space is a fundamental principle of international law. Yet a claim attributed to damage by space debris is "difficult, if not impossible, to prove" under the current liability system. This Note analyzes the major difficulties in establishing liability for damage and presents a number of solutions to overcome these obstacles to recovery.
Legal Framework Of Communications Programs In The European Space Agency, W. M. Thiebaut
Legal Framework Of Communications Programs In The European Space Agency, W. M. Thiebaut
Michigan Journal of International Law
The establishment of the ESC gave Europe the necessary impetus to start applications programs. In 1968, the third ESC ministerial meeting at Bad Godesberg, Federal Republic of Germany, unequivocally assigned space applications to ESRO, created the Committee of Senior Officials as an advisory board, and allocated a small budget for studies on application satellites. The Committee of Senior Officials set up a working group specifically to study possible European involvement in communication satellite programs. This working group consisted not only of representatives of the ESC and the space organizations ELDO and ESRO but also of the potential users of the …
Major Legal Issues Arising From The Use Of The Geostationary Orbit, Stephen Gorove
Major Legal Issues Arising From The Use Of The Geostationary Orbit, Stephen Gorove
Michigan Journal of International Law
The remarkable scientific and technological developments of the past three decades have resulted in the increasing use of the "geostationary orbit.” Advances in the technology of broadcasting, meteorological reconnaissance, tracking and data relay from orbital satellites, for example, have greatly enlarged its importance. The growing number of geostationary satellites and the anticipated increases in their use have evoked widespread concerns among many less-developed countries (LDCs) about the early preemption of available orbital positions by more developed nations. Attention has focused on the question of the maximum number of satellites that can be accommodated in the orbit. Although estimates have varied …
The Space Warc: International Accommodations For Satellite Communications, Martin A. Rothblatt
The Space Warc: International Accommodations For Satellite Communications, Martin A. Rothblatt
Michigan Journal of International Law
Communication satellites in geostationary orbit have the marvelous ability to permit information exchange across very large distances. These satellites can accomplish this feat because they are high enough above the earth's surface to be in the "line-of-sight" of microwave transmitters and receivers many thousands of miles apart. Although communication satellites were first used to relay information between continents, by the end of the 1970s they were being used increasingly to transmit information within large countries. This more recent usage, known as "domestic satellite service," is an attractive substitute for lengthy terrestrial microwave or cable networks.
The Political Economy Of Orbit Spectrum Leasing, Harvey Levin
The Political Economy Of Orbit Spectrum Leasing, Harvey Levin
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article will propose several plans for allocating a common resource of the earth-the international orbit spectrum--among nations through mechanisms designed to introduce market incentives. The rights to orbital "parking places" are so defined as to permit their subdivision, recombination, and assignment in lease markets. The lease market approach accommodates the interests of both developed countries (DCs), who have the technology and domestic demand to establish satellite systems today, and less-developed countries (LDCs), who seek long-range planning to guarantee them access to the orbit spectrum at a time in the future when they, too, possess the capability and need. In …
Some Conflicting Trends In Satellite Telecommunications, David M. Leive
Some Conflicting Trends In Satellite Telecommunications, David M. Leive
Michigan Journal of International Law
Two broad trends are evident today in international satellite telecommunications. The first is a trend towards greater international regulation of the natural resources involved, the radio frequency spectrum and the geostationary satellite orbit. The second is a trend towards international and regional groupings in the provision of communications services among countries. Other articles in this volume discuss various aspects of one or the other of these trends, such as the 1985/1988 Space WARC, and regional satellite developments in Europe. Consequently, no attempt is made here to analyze the two trends fully. The principal point of this paper is to analyze …
Eutelsat: Europe's Satellite Telecommunications, Simone Courteix
Eutelsat: Europe's Satellite Telecommunications, Simone Courteix
Michigan Journal of International Law
In the 1950s long distance telephone communication by wire or Herz circuit was extremely limited and usually very expensive. In 1956, the installation of the first transatlantic telephone cable, TAT 1, signaled the beginning of the present era in intercontinental telecommunications. However, it soon became apparent that underwater cables would not meet the ever-increasing demand for communications created by expanding global economic activity. At the same time, radio communications also experienced growing demand, and suffered from overcrowded frequencies. It was therefore natural that the first application of telecommunications technology in space focused on the improvement of intercontinental circuits.
Steps Toward A European Agreement On Satellite Broadcasting, Frits W. Hondius
Steps Toward A European Agreement On Satellite Broadcasting, Frits W. Hondius
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article is a progress report, written at the beginning of 1983. It is about the unfolding of a new communications medium, satellite broadcasting, in Europe. It is very probable that by the time of publication, many new developments will have taken place. However, this analysis may still be helpful later on to allow those responsible for the development and use of this powerful new channel of communication to know what the expectations and apprehensions were in 1983. Feedback from history is indispensable to builders of the future, provided that someone is willing to commit to paper a record of …
Current Issues In Remote Sensing, I. H. Ph. Diederiks-Verschoor
Current Issues In Remote Sensing, I. H. Ph. Diederiks-Verschoor
Michigan Journal of International Law
In this article certain problems surrounding Satellite remote sensing (SRS) will be addressed with particular emphasis on their legal implications. Aspects of air law as they affect remote sensing will not be discussed in any detail, nor will it be necessary to refer to the vexing problem of determining the satisfactory boundary between the airspace and outer space. This fundamental problem is still in dispute and under constant review, both in scholarly circles and in the United Nations; and the world community may consider itself fortunate that the issue has not prevented a number of important international agreements on space …
Direct Television Broadcasting And The Quest For Communication Equality, Howard C. Anawalt
Direct Television Broadcasting And The Quest For Communication Equality, Howard C. Anawalt
Michigan Journal of International Law
In the immediate past modem communication means such as efficient telephone and television systems have been viewed as the luxuries of well developed economies. Rapid advances in the field of communications and computer technologies have changed this basic outlook. Now, it is possible to use these technologies as tools of economic growth in both developed and developing countries. This is primarily because cost has gone down while efficiency has gone up. A recent article concerning small computers demonstrates the point. "If the aircraft industry had developed as spectacularly as the computer industry over the past twenty-five years, a Boeing 767 …