Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 23.pdf/433

 The Legal Side of Aviation spies.

The uselessness of one of these

limits may be shown by recalling that the Krupp Company make cannon for

defense against air ships, which shoot 38,000 feet into the air, that is, far beyond the upper limit of the stratum in which men can breathe. This would make all the air which is accessible to men, the property of the state. We are brought thus to the third theory, which

prevails in Germany, that the state is

399

busy of late. The full meaning of these problems will not be evident till the air ships actually and seriously take part in a war.

The extension of the state's domain upward

and

the conception

of air

boundaries brings with it new compli cations and diﬁiculties. The machines of one state must in times of peace respect the aerial territory of another

unrestrained sovereign over the air above. As far as the latter space is now or is

state. They can enter another state only under such limitations as surround the skirting of foreign coasts or the visit

destined to be capable of use by men, it

ing of foreign ports with war ships.

belongs to the state beneath it.

case of war the airships of neutral states cannot enter the air territory of the

Thus

the surface of the country forms the base of an irregular solid with per pendicular sides, and France, England, Germany, are no longer mere surfaces.

The only space which is free is the space over the sea or over a possible No Man's

Land.

Over such districts the inter

In

belligerent powers without exposing themselves to_ the danger of being treated, in accordance with the laws of war, as the belligerent state which is visited may ﬁnd it to its interest to

treat

them.

The

of

vails. In principle, then, our whole complicated network of laws and rights leaves the surface and penetrates the entire solid. I say in principle, for given the extreme mobility of the air ships and the international character of

the other hand unconditionally avoid the territory of the neutral powers. The erection of a national control over all spaces above the country, valid in peace

aviation, it is sometimes necessary, in

the interest of the maintenance of justice in another state, for example the home

state from which the aéronaut has es caped, to apply foreign law. The state will then be sovereign in its home air as on its home soil.

It will

put all its institutions in operation in the air. As we already have military balloons, we shall have — assuming that

the air becomes a highway of any importance—in the future customs balloons, police balloons, etc. The modi ﬁcation of the character of law in conse

the contending

military airships

national law, the law of nations, pre

parties

must on

and war, does not in any sense mean a

limitation of the freedom of inter national aviation. It is rather a recog nition and establishment of the fullest possible freedom. Over one point there is already general agreement: all states will introduce compulsory registration, that is, every airship must have a deﬁnite home and be there entered by the authorities in a publicly accessible airship list. This

list will play an important part in the numerous legal quarrels which will be constantly arising. Every ship will be compelled to carry papers, just as the

ships do which sail the ocean.

quence of the new domain places before

Scarcely less serious difficulties meet

us new and delicate questions of mili tary law, with which Germany and

the jurist when he considers the posi tion of the airship with reference to the rights of the individual. The question

France in particular have been very