Space Crime: The Need For Police Power Over The Space Conduct Of All Non-State Actors

摘要

Customary international law primarily concerns itself with state practices and rarely imposes legal restraints on non-state actors. A non-state actor is subject to international law when rights and duties are attributed directly to the non-state actor and not through the medium of states. Accordingly, criminal activity of non-state actors is rarely considered a violation of customary international law because non-state conduct hardly ever constitutes a matter of mutual legal concern among states. This principle holds true for the space law legal regime which thereby shifts the focus to the availability of national law to regulate the space conduct of non-state actors. This paper will focus on the limited basis for foreign states exercising criminal jurisdiction over the space conduct of non-state actors and in doing so point to the need for the international community recognize and address the reality of space crime.