Colonel Hagan's advice eventually found more fertile ground with General Harmon's successor, Maj Gen Albert M. Kuhfeld, who became the Air Force acting judge advocate general on 1 April 1960. General Kuhfeld was much more interested in space issues than his predecessor and readily perceived a value in the Air Force being active in dealing with the legal issues associated with outer space matters. Aware that the sovereignty in outer space and other aerospace legal issues needed resolution, he advocated that Air Force leaders take a proactive posture in these areas.
General Kuhfeld, as explained below, reasoned that the Air Force would be better served by taking a leading role in settling these issues, rather than having them resolved by others. In a speech to the Association of General Counsels of American Industry in November 1960, he discussed the evolution of international law and its relationship to outer space law. He described the various options for defining the line of demarcation between airspace and outer space. He stated his agreement with UN Secretary General Dag Hammarsköld's position that outer space should be free from appropriation by any state. General Kuhfeld reiterated, from Col Martin Menter's thesis, the Roman maxim ex facto oritur jus (law arises from fact) as being applicable to outer space law. He restated the Air Force position that had evolved in the 1950s, namely, that "we have yet, I think, too many square pegs and round holes to think of codifying any space law." However, the general recognized that
as scientific data is acquired, problem areas will lend themselves to solution. As the scientist and attorney agree as to factual sufficiency, the particular problem area may be presented to the representatives of various national governments for resolution into mutually acceptable rules to govern space activities...For example, we now have experienced the development of nose cones that survive destruction by the atmosphere. We should immediately recognize and agree that damage caused to persons or property be redressed by the nation launching the particular space vehicle.[1]
He concluded that outer space law would evolve as law generally had, and that the UN, which was already undertaking efforts to identify legal problems incident to the exploration of outer space, was the appropriate instrument to lead such discussions. General Kuhfeld's briefing was given wide exposure, having been published in the Air Force Information
- ↑ Maj Gert Albert M. Kuhfeld, speech, Legal Problems of Space Exploration, to the Association of General Counsel, Litchfield Park, Arizona, 18 November 1960.
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