The successive wave of hijacking of airplanes at gunpoint in 1961 made the press declare that the newest form of transportation had been struck by "air-age piracy''. The hijacking of airplanes is not new, however. The earliest cases had political implications as they involved the seizure of Czechoslovakian airplanes by refugees from communist-controlled countries who compelled the pilots to fly to the American zone of West Germany. The series of seizures of Cuban airplanes by political refugees who flew them to the United States were of the same vein. So, allegedly, was the seizure of a DC-8 jetliner by a French Algerian who sought to draw attention to the Algerian problem.

The present law governing the liability of manufacturers to make reparation for harm caused by defects, attributable to negligence, in their products has been hammered out over a period of rather more than a century by the courts which, on both sides of the Atlantic, administer the principles of the Anglo-American system, and finds its origin in an English case, Winterbottom v. Wright (1). The sole parallel between this case and those immediately concerning the aircraft manufacturer is that both are derived from allegedly defective vehicles: for the rest, Winterbottom v. Wright did not involve a manufacturer, and was not tried on the issue of the tort of negligence. Its importance in the law of products liability, and the solution to the paradox, lie not in what was decided in the case but in the misinterpretation of the decision by later courts, and in their application of that misinterpretation to cases which were properly based on the tort of negligence.

There can be no doubt that the expansion of aviation has greatly benefited the private, commercial, and military components of American society. It is equally beyond doubt, however, that this benefit has not been secured without corresponding disadvantages which, to some extent, have fallen upon a few individuals; specifically, those who own property in the vicinity of airports. The noise, vibration and possibility of crash which harass these persons are the inevitable by-products of the take-off and landing procedures followed by all fixed wing aircraft. With the advent of the jet aircraft, the discomfort and inconveniences suffered by them have become particularly acute.

Le caractère essentiel de l'Agence pour la sécurité de la navigation aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar, ASECNA, est la dualité de sa nature. C'est à la fois un instrument d'assistance technique et un organisme de coopération en matière de sécurité aérienne. Historiquement l’ASECNA est le résultat d'une déconcentration de l'administration française de l'aviation civile, le Secrétariat Général à l'Aviation Civile (1). Cette opération fut rendue nécessaire par la décolonisation effectuée par la France en Afrique, à partir de 1956. La décolonisation s'accompagne généralement d'une assistance fournie par l'ex-puissance colonisatrice à l'État nouveau. La collaboration est substituée à la dépendance (2).

After a brief discussion of the causes which gave rise to the existing protectionist aviation policies and their consequences in Western-Europe, "the Road towards a European Common Air Market” deals with the development of air law in Europe from the outset of aviation until the present days. Next there follows an analysis of the problems of civil aviation in Europe, emphasizing the need for closer co-operation between both governments and airlines, and of the various forms of collaboration and co-ordination between airlines. Mention is also made of a number of governmental and private efforts to facilitate civil air transport and to stimulate its development, i.a. of the plans submitted by Bonnefous, Sforza and Van de Kieft to the Council of Europe and the establishment of the European Civil Aviation Conference at Strasbourg in 1955 as a result of these plans.

Just like in surface vehicular travel, the inevitability of collisions between aircraft, and the growth of the incidence thereof, is equally accepted in air transportation. The necessity of regulating the legal obligations resulting from such incidents, in a convention level, in order to obviate the application of the various domestic laws on the matter which do not contain standard liability provisions, among other things, was long felt. Such need stems from the economic policy obtaining in international air law to define, regulate and limit an aircraft operator's liability from catastrophic losses that usually results from a single aviation accident, and extend reasonable protection to the rights of end-users, including innocent third parties, who may have suffered injury or sustained damage as a result of aircraft operations.

Because of the enormous capacity of nuclear energy, this force is beneficially employed in many different ways. Among these applications, power generation for electricity and propulsion is most important. As the uses of these materials increase, so does the number of transactions, especially among nations. To preserve energy and to save time and money, certain radioactive materials are transported by air and as nuclear activity advances, so will the number of air carriages. To provide for economic and distant space travel, experiments have been undertaken to develop nuclear power propulsion in flight instrumentalities, both in spacecraft and aircraft, in order to overcome the difficulties of chemical fuels. Because of the ultrahazardous nature of the materials and the potential catastrophic damage involved, attention has been given to the question of liability. [...]

The course on which this study embarks is largely uncharted by positive law. Although man's technical achievements in outer space already stand as monumental guideposts to scientists, the framers devoted to founding the legal regime are only beginning to formulate the structure through which law and order can be effected in this new region. It is, I believe, wise and commendable that the policy making bodies of the world have not been driven by a modern cry for progress in space law and have not set about solving with a sense of urgency imaginary problems based on prophecies of disputes and conflicts in the unexplored, unorganized, and unpopulated region of outer space. The law has kept pace with the needs of society. Legal vacuums have not occurred because of the evolution of the common law and the law of nations was based on the customs and usages of the participants in the particular community concerned. Substantially the same condition and evolution can be expected in the development of space law. [...]

From its beginnings, and by its very nature, civil aviation has been interrelated with fundamental issues of national concern and with international relations of States in general. Hence, a study of the evolution of Germany's international civil aviation policies presupposes a thorough understanding of the basic interests nations have in the operations of international airlines. [...]

The purpose of this study is to explore the possibility of developing a legal order in space through the technique of an international organization. The motivation for this study springs from the words of the United Nations General Assembly in that body's desire "to avoid the extension of present national rivalries into this new field" which holds the promise of unique benefits for all mankind. In this sense, it is a study of the strategy of interdependence in the space age. [...]