Live data from Hacker News

Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

economist.com

11–20 of 69 posts

Re: Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

#11

Law doesn't come from (or shouldn't come from) unqualified legislators guessing about what the future will be like and what problems will be there. Law comes from when somebody has a grievance against somebody else, and society steps in to resolve it. Could you imagine how bad it would be if Congress got excited about the potential for internet crime in 1985, tried to guess the form of the problems that would arise,…

That’s one legal concept, and one that’s consistent with common law: law is made through court rulings and decisions.

But it’s not the only legal concept, nor the most dominant or best, and in civil law systems, it’s required that all law be available and readable for free for the public, which means law has to be written into laws, and can’t be defined through court rulings.

Re: Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

#12

Law doesn't come from (or shouldn't come from) unqualified legislators guessing about what the future will be like and what problems will be there. Law comes from when somebody has a grievance against somebody else, and society steps in to resolve it. Could you imagine how bad it would be if Congress got excited about the potential for internet crime in 1985, tried to guess the form of the problems that would arise,…

> Could you imagine how bad it would be if Congress got excited about the potential for internet crime in 1985, tried to guess the form of the problems that would arise, and then wrote laws banning and permitting things that they thought would lead to trouble?

Didn't they try to do that with 1984's Computer Fraud and Abuse Act?

Re: Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

#13

Law doesn't come from (or shouldn't come from) unqualified legislators guessing about what the future will be like and what problems will be there. Law comes from when somebody has a grievance against somebody else, and society steps in to resolve it. Could you imagine how bad it would be if Congress got excited about the potential for internet crime in 1985, tried to guess the form of the problems that would arise,…

[deleted]

Re: Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

#14
post #11

Law doesn't come from (or shouldn't come from) unqualified legislators guessing about what the future will be like and what problems will be there. Law comes from when somebody has a grievance against somebody else, and society steps in to resolve it. Could you imagine how bad it would be if Congress got excited about the potential for internet crime in 1985, tried to guess the form of the problems that would arise,…

That’s one legal concept, and one that’s consistent with common law: law is made through court rulings and decisions. But it’s not the only legal concept, nor the most dominant or best, and in civil law systems, it’s required that all law be available and readable for free for the public, which means law has to be written into laws, and can’t be defined through court rulings.

The U.S. has both statutory and common law. They're not mutually exclusive.

Re: Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

#15
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s one legal concept, and one that’s consistent with common law: law is made through court rulings and decisions. But it’s not the only legal concept, nor the most dominant or best, and in civil law systems, it’s required that all law be available and readable for free for the public, which means law has to be written into laws, and can’t be defined through court rulings.

The U.S. has both statutory and common law. They're not mutually exclusive.

True, but in civil law systems, with minor exceptions, only statutory law counts. Why should the US system dominate in space?

Another question is: why should the US decide what happens in space? That’s quite an imperialistic view on the world.

Re: Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

#16
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The U.S. has both statutory and common law. They're not mutually exclusive.

True, but in civil law systems, with minor exceptions, only statutory law counts. Why should the US system dominate in space? Another question is: why should the US decide what happens in space? That’s quite an imperialistic view on the world.

staticautomatic isn't saying the US system should necessarily be dominant, they're just pointing out that the two systems aren't mutually exclusive.

Re: Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

#17
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The U.S. has both statutory and common law. They're not mutually exclusive.

True, but in civil law systems, with minor exceptions, only statutory law counts. Why should the US system dominate in space? Another question is: why should the US decide what happens in space? That’s quite an imperialistic view on the world.

I'm not saying it should. I'm just saying that we don't face a choice between one or the other.

Re: Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

#18
Yeah as if Earth doesn't have any other problems right now than putting million of super-rich people into space lol. What a stupid waste of time and resources. Maybe there should be some laws indeed for Earth orbit, for instance, banning densely populated, orbiting space craft, for starters. Or fixing or problems on Earth before spending hundreds of billions on useless space projects. We might not be around long enough to populate space otherwise. Now is not the time...

Re: Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

#19

Law doesn't come from (or shouldn't come from) unqualified legislators guessing about what the future will be like and what problems will be there. Law comes from when somebody has a grievance against somebody else, and society steps in to resolve it. Could you imagine how bad it would be if Congress got excited about the potential for internet crime in 1985, tried to guess the form of the problems that would arise,…

Could you imagine how bad it would be if Congress got excited about the potential for internet crime in 1985, tried to guess the form of the problems that would arise, and then wrote laws banning and permitting things that they thought would lead to trouble?

About as well as Korea's government picking the crypto businesses should use in 1996:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/elaineramirez/2016/11/30/south-...

Re: Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there

#20
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but in civil law systems, with minor exceptions, only statutory law counts. Why should the US system dominate in space? Another question is: why should the US decide what happens in space? That’s quite an imperialistic view on the world.

staticautomatic isn't saying the US system should necessarily be dominant, they're just pointing out that the two systems aren't mutually exclusive.

I’m not saying they are, but it is a question that presents itself given the context.
Post reply on HN