@Scraggle
Quote: "
I have no intention of arguing with you because you may be right, however, I will point out one thing it says on my certificate. That is, that there is a loophole in the very article that you have linked to which enables people to own real estate on celestial bodies but not countries.
Here is the article it refers to:
Quote: "Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means"
As you can see, it only outlaws countries not individuals
"
I really hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but I'm afraid that is not probably not correct either.
You can't have any ownership interest in land without a country having an internationally recognised sovereignty over that land. This is because most advanced jurisdiction's conflicts of law rules provide that ownership of land is determined by the lex fori, i.e. the law of the sovereignty in which the land is located.
The fundamental problem of the Moon is that it is terra nullius, in that nobody yet lives there, there is no recognised government and hence there is no recognised governing sovereignty.
Of course, this problem sometimes occurs on Earth. A good current example is Sealand. This is a small fort on a rock off the coast of England. It is outside British territorial waters and so a few decades ago a fruitcake landed there, proclaimed himself "Prince Roy", and purported to set up an independent state.
See:
http://www.sealandgov.com/history.html
As "Prince Roy" claims sovereignty he therefore claims title to the fort and all the rights and privileges that attach to sovereignty. However, his state is not recognised by any government (and you can discount his comments about the 1968 case - they are hopelessly misconceived) so the rights and privileges of the sovereignty have no weight or value.
The Moon falls into a different category as no person or government has yet even tried to claim sovereignty over it. If they did, regardless of whether they are an individual or a country, that would theoretically be a breach of the Treaty and the Agreement. It is unlikely that the claiming country's sovereignty would be recognised. Alternatively, given that many countries have enacted both into domestic law, an attempt by an individual to claim sovereignty would probably constitute a criminal offence in the nation state of which the individual is a citizen.
For example, broadly speaking, in England the Outer Space Act 1986 prohibits various activities relating to outer space without a licence from HMG. If you were a British subject and flew to the Moon and tried to claim sovereignty, you would have committed a criminal offence and would be liable to arrest, trial and possible imprisonment. Your claim to sovereignty and any succeeding claim to an ownership interest in the moon would not be recognised.
Philip
What do you mean, bears aren't supposed to wear hats and a tie? P3.2ghz / 1 gig / GeForce FX 5900 128meg / WinXP home
