Publicists, scholars, and practitioners of international law have yet to produce a sustained analysis of the law of war as applied to armed conflict in outer space. Though no reported cases of armed conflict in space exist, the principal spacefaring nations have contemplated space warfare for decades. Concluding that the general legal regime regulating means and methods of warfare will apply to space combat, should it occur, this thesis attempts a preliminary examination. Chapter One presents a hypothetical space warfare scenario, followed by a chapter on the history of space militarization with a review of existing (and foreseeable) technology useful for space combat. Chapter Three analyzes the international legal regime governing armed conflict, drawing conclusions for space warfare where possible. Chapters Four and Five analyze the legal regime governing the corpus juris spatialis (space law proper), as well as related treaties and instruments supplementing the legal norms for human activity in space, respectively. Chapter Six lays a foundational legal analysis for the application of the law of war to space combat, concluding with a section that addresses specific issues raised by such application.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.29938 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Ramey, Robert A. |
| Contributors | Vlasic, I. A. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Laws (Institute of Air and Space Law.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001681079, proquestno: MQ55106, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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