[FPSPACE] Russian "claim"

[Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz]

	No. The legitimacy of a claim is based on a complex mix of 
action, precedent, custom, and responses of nations, as well as what 
is in relevant treaties. Both Canada and the United States promptly 
rejected the claim. Other nations probably have as well, although I 
have not researched this point. Customary law and treaty law 
regarding global commons (high seas, Antarctica, space) have trended 
away from sovereignty claims by occupation, possession, flag 
planting, etc. at least since World War II. Multiple nations have 
left flags on the lunar surface. None of these events are considered 
to have established appropriation of territory.
	Russia has been a State Party to the Law of the Sea 
Convention and its related instruments since 1997.
	The relevant provisions of the Convention state:
"Part VII, Article89
Invalidity of claims of sovereignty over the high seas
No State may validly purport to subject any part of the high seas to 
its sovereignty.

Article 1
Use of terms and scope
1.	For the purposes of this Convention:
(1)	"Area" means the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, 
beyond the limits of national jurisdiction;

Part X1 Section 2

Article137
Legal status of the Area and its resources
1. No State shall claim or exercise sovereignty or sovereign rights 
over any part of the Area or its resources, nor shall any State or 
natural or juridical person appropriate any part thereof. No such 
claim or exercise of sovereignty or sovereign rights nor such 
appropriation shall be recognized."



At 00:57 +0200 05/08/2007, Alex Michael Bonnici wrote:
>Does Russia's recent claim to the Arctic seabed automatically mean 
>that all United Nations treaties to date become void? In addition, 
>does Russia's recent stance have any future bearing on how nations 
>will conduct themselves in outer space?
>
>
>http://discoveryenterprise.blogspot.com/2007/08/does-united-states-of-america-now-own.html
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>FPSPACE mailing list
>FPSPACE at friends-partners.org
>http://www.friends-partners.org/mailman/listinfo/fpspace


-- 
Prof. Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz, Director
National Center for Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Space Law
The University of Mississippi School of Law
P.O.Box 1848
University, MS 38677-1848
jgabryno at olemiss.edu
Voice: (662) 915-6877
Fax: (662) 915- 6921