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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0596.PDF
JUNE 3, 1920 INTERNATIONAL LAW ASSOCIATION AND AIR RULES THE final meetings of the International Law Association'sConference at Portsmouth were held in the Town Hall on May 31. Lord Reading was unanimously elected President of the Association for the ensuing year, with Dr., Jitta and Dr. -'-'• B. C. J. Loder, Judge of the Supreme Court of the Nether- ' 'nnds, as Vice-Presidents. The invitation of Holland was accepted to hold next year's conference at The Hague, andDr. Jitta agreed to be president of that conference. The future of aviation in time of peace—one of the mostInteresting and progressive subjects which was discussed ' at the Conference—was left to this final session. Sir Erie Richards, K.C., Chichele Professor of InternationalLaw at Oxford, took the Chair for the discussion of aviation in peace time. He said that unless restrictions were placedon aircraft in future, we should in war-time have fleets of aircraft devastating populations and destroying propertywholesale. The long-disputed question of air sovereignty had now been settled in the sense recommended by theassociation at its Madrid conference in 1913 by the Con- vention for the regulation of aerial navigation, signed onOctober 13 last, to which all the Allied Powers and some others were parties, and to which other nations could sub-scribe if they liked. The Convention laid it down that the high contracting Powers recognised that every Power hadcomplete and exclusive sovereignty over the air-space above its territories. A paper by Professor H. D. Hazeltine was summarisedby Sir Erie Richards. In it, Professor Hazeltine referred to the draft conventionof the Paris Conference in 1910, which was never put into operation owing to a vital difference on the question whetherthe principle of aerial freedom or that of aerial sovereignty should be the basis of the Convention, and therefore of inter-national law. As a result of the war-time evolution there had been, since the conclusion of the Armistice, a rapiddevelopment both of international aircraft services for the carriage of mails, goods and passengers, and of services forinternational communication by wireless telegraphy and telephony. Especially important was the recent demon-stration of the practical value of wireless telephonic com- munication between aircraft in flight and stations on the landand in ships at sea. The world stood on the threshold of vast new developments in the extension of internationalaerial navigation and communication. The Air Navigation Convention, which was signed byrepresentatives of many countries on October 13, 1919, was now the principal legal basis of international air naviga-tion in time of peace. Article I of that Convention provided that the contracting States recognised that every State hadcomplete and exclusive sovereignty in the air space above its "territory and territorial waters. The International LawAssociation adopted the doctrine of air sovereignty7 at its meeting in Madrid in 1913. It was the only body of inter-national jurists which held that view in pre-War days, and its services to a sound doctrine should be recognised'inthe hour of the triumph of air sovereignty. Professor Hazeltine then referred to that part of the AirNavigation Convention which provides that " each contracting State undertakes in time of peace to accord freedom ofinnocent passage above its territory and territorial waters .». . to the aircraft of the contracting States," provided that the conditions of the Convention were observed. He pointed out,however, that this doctrine of innocent passage did not mean that tb<^se who accepted it also approved of the doctrine ofthe " freedom of the air." In conclusion, he said that it was clear that the basis of the international law of aviation intime of peace had been laid. Three tasks of fundamental importance now awaited the study of international lawyers :—The detailed examination of the International Air Navi- gation Convention of 1919, .with a view to the proposal ofany changes which might be necessitated by the progress of aviation ; and the further study of the InternationalRadiotelegraphic Conventions of 1906 and 1912. There was a close relationship between wireless communication andaviation and between the International Conventions which regulated them ; and that connection was destined, with thegrowth of scientific invention and practical experience, to become more intimate as time passed. In general, it mightbe said that international air law in time of peace comprised two main divisions—the law of wireless communication andthe law of flight. Any comprehensive study of international air law in time of peace must embrace both of those mainsub-divisions of the subject. A second task of equal importance was the study of themunicipal air regulations of all the world's States and of their relation to international rules. That study should embracenot only the municipal law of aviation, but also the municipal law of wireless communication. Municipal air law, in bothof its main branches, was important in itself ; and it was also important in its relation to international air law. Thetwo bodies of law—international and municipal—were indeed so intimately bound up one with the other that theinternational lawyer must bring them both within the scope of his studies. A third task which now awaited the international airlawyer was the careful study of international air law in time of war. The rules of pre-War law must now be studied inthe light of the aerial practices of States during the War of 1914-1918. Here again the subject demanded a study ofthe rules which applied to both wireless and aircraft, and of the close relationship between the two sets of rules. Airwarfare by the agencies of wireless telegraphy and tele- phony and of aircraft was destined to play a role of com-manding and ever-increasing importance in any future wars. International lawyers ought now to frame a code -of ruleswhich would regulate the conduct of air warfare and, if possible, lessen its harmful effect on combatants and non-combatants alike. These were tertain of the main tasks which now devolvedon international air lawyers. In the solution of the problems involved in the present state of international air law, forthe time of peace and the time of war alike, the International Law Association should take a leading part. What wasdemanded was not merely interest in this new branch of international jurisprudence. Interest had been awakened,and it should now lead to careful .and scientific study of the nature of the problems and of the juridical principles whichought to be applied in their solution. Only by that method would the association exert an influence on the League ofNations and the international conferences which would be charged with the duty of revising existing Conventions andof framing new ones more in harmony with the needs of international society. ROYAL AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY NOTICES Wilbur Wright Lecture.—Members desiring to attend themselves, and bring friends to the Wilbur Wright Lecture, should make application to the Secretary for reserved seats which will be allotted in the order of application. The lecture will commence at 8.30 p.m. at the Central Hall, Westminster, on Tuesday, June 22, the title of Comdr. Hunsaker's paper being " Naval Architec- ture in Aeronautics." H.R.H. Prince Albert will take the Chair. Technical Terms Committee.—The next meeting of the Technical Terms Committee, which is No. 1 Sub-Committee (Nomenclature) of the Aircraft Section of the British Engineer-ing Standards Association, will be held in the Society's offices at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 4. Representatives of theDepartment of Training and Organisation, and of the Instrument Department of the Directorate of Researchof the Air Ministry, have lately been added to this Committee. Arrangements for June.—June 4, Technical Terms Com-mittee Meeting; June 15, 3.30 p.m., Candidates Qualifica- tions Committee Meeting ; 4 p.m., Lectures and PublicationsCommittee Meeting ; 5 p.m., Council Meeting ; June 22, Wilbur Wright Lecture. W. LOCKWOOD MARSH, -7, Albemarle Street, W. 1. Secretary. Mesopotamia Mishap ALTHOUGH from the military point of view affairs iiiMesopotamia are somewhat less disturbed, the element^seem to be pretty turbulent as well as in Europe. It is reported-that the aeroplanes stationed at Anah- were all destroyed byra hurricane on May 18. 596
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