Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice lists three sources of law to apply in disputes: conventions, custom, and general principles of law. General principles of international law can be derived from the body of municipal or domestic law pertinent to the issue. Earlier this year, the Working Group on National Legislation Relevant to the Peaceful Exploration and Use of Outer Space of the Legal Subcommittee of UN COPUOS submitted its working paper and schematic overview compiling the national regulatory frameworks currently in place for space activities as a whole. The table illustrates the differences and similarities in how States have chosen to comply with different treaty obligations. It is a start for distilling out the essence of general principles of international law in space.1 The paper begins by defining general principles of law. Next, it identifies methodologies and tests for ascertaining what they are. Lastly, it parses the compilation of national laws, applying these tests to one issue in an effort to distill a common principle or ultimate essence. Lastly, it explores the possibility that this principle may be sufficiently generalized to serve as a source of law available to settle international disputes.
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