LAW 749 - Aviation, Drone & Space Law

Course Type: Upper Level Elective
Credits: 2

Description: The course will engage students in survey of laws governing Aviation, Drones and Space. The subject matters are mostly domestic US legal areas but, in many topics, international law, treaties and regulations are relevant and will be covered. Aviation Law is largely established but contemporary legal issues such as aircraft seizures in times of sanctions and current liability challenges to existing laws created by the Boeing Aircraft issues create new challenges and changes in the law that will be discussed and covered in the class.

Drone law will be covered briefly, although it is generating a rapidly changing legal landscape covering Constitutional, Criminal, Commercial and Individual legal issues. The classes will focus on the legal issues surrounding incorporation of drones into the US national air space system, which naturally follows the material covered in the aviation law part of the class and issue of rights and liabilities for drone incidences, including individual privacy and air space privacy.

Finally, Space Law will explore the existing and future legal landscape of Space exploration and commerce. This is an exploding area of new laws, unexpected applications of existing laws, legal unknowns, and foreseeable legal conflicts all driven by an unprecedented expansion into Space by both governments and private actors. Current international treaties on Space will be covered followed by readings and materials on future space legalities, such as the confluence of private and public actors in space and rights to space in space. Anticipated legal issues with the forthcoming increase in lunar landings (unmanned and manned) with accompanying State territorial rights to the moon, alongside associated rights and liabilities commercial mining of the moon.