The Case for Lunar Property Rights

longacre writes "Who owns the moon? In a thought provoking piece, Instapundit blogger/law professor Glenn Reynolds gives us a brief history of earthlings' discourse on lunar property rights, a topic which has stagnated since the 1979 Moon Treaty. Is it possible to claim good title on land that is not under the dominion of a nation? He goes on to plead his case for the creation of lunar real estate legislation. From the article: 'Property rights attract private capital and, with government space programs stagnating, a lunar land rush may be just what we need to get things going again.'"

Comments

Hill of beans

[mcelrath]

"Property rights" won't amount to a hill of beans to the first person to get up there, stand on the spot and say "this is mine".

In other words, property rights are unenforcable, and none of the existing governments on earth have any real say. What government is going to spend 10 billion on space hardware to settle a legal property ownership/squatting claim?

In yet other words, possession is 9/10 of the law. Go ahead and argue about the other 1/10, because you don't matter.

Heinlein

[Etherwalk]

This is a Heinlein question--read The Man Who Sold the Moon, he has a lot of fun with it.

Re:Possession is nine tenths of the law.

[Wyatt Earp]

I believe that the Moon is covered by the Law of the Sea, which also covers Space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_law

Thats one of the reasons that nations with space craft on the Moon, Venus and Mars are adamant about the objects not being abandoned, similar to the US listening devices clamped onto Soviet communication cables saying who owned said super-secret listening devices.

So, for example, Mars Pathfinder is not derelict, but jetsam, flotsam or lagan which is remains the property of their original owner. The American bird that was shot down by the Navy this year, might technically be a derelict and could be salvaged legally, had it come down mostly intact.

go there, stake a claim, defend it, it's yours

[petes_PoV]

straightforward colonisation principles apply.

Put aside all the theories, bar-room lawyers, treaties that aren't worth a dam' and the fools who are willing to hand over money here on terra-firma. All that will go out of the window (or would that be viewing port) as soon as someone finds a resource there that can turn a profit. Once that happens you've got a very slow gold rush on your hands. All the people back on earth who paid for a "claim" can yell all they want, they'll be drowned out by everyone else laughing.

However the chances of anyone, or country, raising the capital to go there and set up a commercial enterprise are very small. The chances of them being able to turn whatever they find back into ca$h are even smaller and the chances of making more than the hundreds of billions they spend are infinitesimal.

That's the reason so few people live in the Gobi Desert. It's thousands of times more hospitable than the moon (or mars, for that matter) and millions of times cheaper to get to. However there's nothing there worth having.

Re:Possession is nine tenths of the law.

[DerekLyons]

I believe that the Moon is covered by the Law of the Sea, which also covers Space.

It isn't and it doesn't.
 
 

So, for example, Mars Pathfinder is not derelict, but jetsam, flotsam or lagan which is remains the property of their original owner.

Mars Pathfinder isn't any of those four legal states - it is clearly and plainly the property of the USG. Period. This is plainly spelled out in the various treaties that address the issue.
 
This same principle is found in Maritime Law, where government property always remains government property unless the government specifically gives up jurisdiction. (This is the legal principle under which the US Government supervised the salvage of the Hunley - since the USG had assumed control of all CSA property at the close of the Civil War, and neither government had ever yielded title.)
 
 

The American bird that was shot down by the Navy this year, might technically be a derelict and could be salvaged legally, had it come down mostly intact.

The various treaties that address the topic are quite clear - in space, as on earth, government property remains government property forever unless specifically yields title.

Re:Possession is nine tenths of the law.

[a_n_d_e_r_s]

No, Columbus was sent by the king and queen of Spain and the Pope acknowledged that all land there was the property of Spain.

Columbus never went to NORTH america - he mostly visited Bahmas and Cuba and some of the other island there and some part of south america.

Re:location, location, location

[cronius]

So what can you do on the Moon that would make it so fabulously valuable? Beats me. The only unique resources the Moon has (exceedingly low temperatures in the shade, unbelievably good vacuum) you can also get in orbit, where you don't have to worry about any gravity at all, and can build eight-mile wide factories out of gossamer and shoe strings, if you want.
Helium-3. Lots on the moon, little on Earth. Can be used to build fusion reactors.

http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/041126084122.6pp9f0wx.html

"The moon contains 10 times more energy in the form of Helium 3 than all the fossil fuels on the earth," Kalam said.