Who Owns the Moon?

Download or read book Who Owns the Moon? written by Virgiliu Pop and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-11-16 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work investigates the permissibility and viability of property rights on the - lestial bodies, particularly the extraterrestrial aspects of land and mineral resources ownership. In lay terms, it aims to ?nd an answer to the question “Who owns the Moon?” The ?rst chapter critically analyses and dismantles with legal arguments the issue of sale of extraterrestrial real estate, after having perused some of the trivial claims of celestial bodies ownership. The only consequence these claims have on the plane of space law is to highlight the need for a better regulation of extraterrestrial landed property rights. Next, thebook addresses theapparent silenceofthelawinthe?eldofextraterr- trial landed property, scrutinizing whether the factual situation on the extraterrestrial realms calls for legal regulations. The sources of law are examined in their dual dimension – that is, the facts that have caused and shaped the law of extraterrestrial real estate, and the norms which express this law. It is found that the norms and rules regarding property rights in the celestial realms are rather limited, failing to de?ne basic concepts such as celestial body.