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Whose Laws Apply On the ISS?
Hugh Pickens writes "Whose laws apply if astronauts from different countries get into a fight, make a patentable discovery, or damage equipment belonging to another country while on the International Space Station? According to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, ratified by 98 nations, states have legal jurisdiction within spacecraft registered to them. When the space station was assembled from modules supplied by the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency (ESA), partners rejected an initial proposal that US law should prevail throughout the space station. "It was agreed that each state registers its own separate elements, which means that you now have a piece of the US annexed to a piece of Europe annexed to a piece of Japan in outer space, legally speaking," said Dr Frans von der Dunk of the International Institute of Air and Space Law at the University of Leiden. So what happens if a crime is committed in space? "If somebody performs an activity which may be considered criminal, it is in the first instance his own country which is able to exercise jurisdiction," Dr. von der Dunk added."
Actually, lots of people are able to claim more than one nationality as a result of birth; for instance, anyone born of a parent from one country that makes children of its citizens citizens by birth, that also:
1) has their other parent a citizen of another country that does that, or
2) is born in a country different than their parents country of citizenship, that makes people born in the country citizens by birth,
Can claim birthright citizenship in more than one country. IIRC, some countries force such a person to make a choice of one or the other at adulthood or give up the claim. I don't really think the ISS, despite having bits of many countries in close proximity, really adds anything new in this regard.
Wrong way round. You don't want innocent people getting upset because you decompressed them. So the innocent ones are the ones who die (besides, you're a bit of a freak if you survive decompression).
I'm reasonably certain that both Germany's and Switzerland's citizenship laws work this way. In fact, there's a sizable Turkish population in Germany, many of whom have lived there for generations, but who don't have citizenship because Germany doesn't automatically grant it at birth. At least, that's the situation as I remember it. It's been a while since I lived there, and I was just a kid.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
And exactly what is wrong with NASA? A lot of good science comes out of it. Sure a lot of it isn't immediately obvious as to the benefit, but the country and the world as a whole is better off for having the agency around doing research.
Climate research for example has greatly benefited from the actions of the agency.
I think part of the problem (as listed in the summary) is that while a ship in international waters usually has a clearly defined nationality, the ISS has a bunch of parts originating from different countries, so the question is what is the nationality of the "ship". It sounds like the issue is not difficult when dealing with spacecraft of a single nationality (for example, the Space Shuttle.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
It happens at least once a year on scheduled flights, and no, all those nationalities do not count - the baby gets to claim the parents nationality and the destinations nationality.
No No. It is clearly the other way around.
The witch trials for instance. Witches float, so you tie the accused witch up to ensure she can't swim (because that would add a a second variable of uncertainty) and toss her into the nearest creek. If she floats, and is a which, you then haul her over to the town square to be burned. If she sinks and drowns... An unfortunate casualty of the justice system.
...and no, all those nationalities do not count - the baby gets to claim the parents nationality and the destinations nationality.
Not entirely true. It depends on the citizenship laws of each country involved. For instance, simply being born in a country doesn't automatically give you rights to citizenship (I was born in Germany, but neither of my parents are German citizens, so it's not even an option for me). I'm sure there are a few combinations of the above example where someone would have legal rights to citizenship in all four countries.
This guy's the limit!
There are two types - Jus Soli and Jus sanguinis.
Former grants citizenship as a function of soil/territory and the latter through blood lineage. So, the method of deeming a person's citizenship would be heavily contingent upon the method used for determining the same.
Um, no. It's lack of oxygen that you'll die from. You'll lose consciousness after about 15 to 20 seconds (due to deoxygenation of your blood on your lungs) and probably don't want to be resuscitated after more than 2 minutes unless you enjoy an existence at the mental level of a daisy.