The-men-who-sold-the-Moon-science-fiction-or-legal-nonsense_Space-Policy_2001.pdf

space policy 17 2001 195 203 the men who sold the moon science fi ction or legal nonsense virgiliu pop faculty of law university of glasgow stair building glasgow g12 8qq uk abstract previously the exclusive domain of science fi ction novels the sale of extraterrestrial real estate has nowadays become a favourite feature of tabloid reports this article critically analyses and dismantles with legal arguments the issue of the sale of extraterrestrial land after having outlined some of the trivial claims of ownership of celestial bodies from dennis hope s lunar claim to the alleged martian trespass by nasa s pathfi nder the only consequence these claims have on the legal plane is to highlight the need for better regulation of extraterrestrial landed property rights r 2001 elsevier science ltd all rights reserved keywords extraterrestrial real estate extraterrestrial landed property rights giving a land claim on mars is truly a unique way to say i love you happy birthday or even thank you the martian consulate l l c 1 1 the science fi ction until recently extraterrestrial real estate seems to have been the undisputed domain of science fi ction in 1950 robert a heinlein published the man who sold the moon 2 a story whose main character delos d harriman gains control over earth s natural satellite fusing the cujus est solum1doctrinefthrough buying all of the land on earth that the moon rotates over eight years later isaac asimov told us to buy jupiter 3 in 1961 heinlein published stranger in a strange land 4 where a fi ctional high court decision general atomics vs larkin et al recognises ownership of the moonbytheactualindividualswhomaintained occupation the 1964 novel by philip k dick martian time slip 5 is centred on a martian real estate aff air like ben bova s 1999 return to mars 6 where the red planet is claimed by the navajo nation in 1968 arthur c clarke and stanley kubrick the creators of 2001 a space odyssey calculated in a wonderful sample of astro demographic mathematics that sincethedawnoftime roughlyahundred billion human beings have walked the planet earth y b y a curious coincidence there are approxi mately a hundred billion stars in y the milky way so for every man who has ever lived in this universe there shines a y sun y and many y of those alien suns have planets circling them so almost certainly there is enough land in the sky to give every member of the human species back to the fi rst ape man his own private world sized heavenfor hell 7 nowadays however claims of extraterrestrial real estate ownership are no longer the exclusive subject of science fi ction books instead growing numbers of people are either claimingfor buying from the claimantsfland plots on other worlds activities which i will argue have no legal validity 2 the factual nonsense 2 1 slicing the pie in the sky theremayhavebeenenoughplanetsinthe milky way for each human being in 1968 but one company claims to have owned them all since april tel 44 079 80063585 fax 44 0870 122 5843 e mail address virgiliu pop v pop 1cujus est solum ejus est usque ad coeli the owner of the land owns it up to the heavens 0265 9646 01 see front matter r 2001 elsevier science ltd all rights reserved pii s 0265 9646 01 0 0023 6 1992 in an affi davit signed in indianapolis space pioneers do now come forward to claim all the planets in the milky way galaxy this will serve as public notice to every and anyone on the planet earth and is fi led and recorded in indianapolis indiana u ntil a proper jurisdiction is established and that this will become real property owned under this claim nasa and all further exploration has unlimited landing rights to all planets 8 following this claim space pioneers started to sell deed s to one acre parcel s on mars derivative of claim 920047584 recorded in the offi ce of the recorder of marion country state of indiana 8 priced at us 29 95 an acre 9 space pioneers are not the only ones claiming ownership of celestial real estate and their claim is by no means the oldest one allegedly the moon has been the fi ef of the juergens family from germany since 15 july 1756 when the prussian emperor frederick the great presented it to aul juergens as a symbolic gesture of gratitude for services rendered and decreed that it should be passed to the youngest born sonfa status held today by a certain martin juergens from west phalia 10 apparently the deed of gift is not in juergens possession having to be found somewhere in the bundesarchiv 11 while the juergens family did not sell their moon others were more business minded in 1955 robert r coles a former chairman of new york s haydenplanetarium incorporatedand started selling lots on the moon for one dollar per acrefbecause no one else had claimed the moon 12 in 1962 prior to the launch of ranger 3 the fi rst us lunar probe on 26january an individual in one of the british dominions sent president eisenhower a telegram informing him that he fi led claim to a certain lunar area and that he intended to hold the united states responsible for any damage the probe might cause to his property 13 the aff air did not develop any further maybe because ranger 3 missed the moon by 36 793km 14 in 1969 soon after apollo 11 mission brazilian police arrested a man for selling lunar lots priced at 25 each in his pro domo plea the salesman said he had sold the fi rst lots to neil armstrong and buzz aldrin and that they had been to the moon to inspect their properties 15 the following year celestial gardensfa company based in cape kennedy floridafsold lunar lots identifi ed on the basis of us military maps one of its clients mrs fernanda alessandrini of rome bought two lots for her sons for 100 16 and registered them with the universal lunar and development register 17 in the 1970s organizations raising charitable funds sold land on mercury for donations of 25per acre 18 the extraterrestrial estate agency that has received the broadest publicity is the lunar embassy founded in 1980 by dennis hope from rio vista california unaware of the previous lunar real estate aff airs and thus believing that the moon had not been previously claimed by anybody and convinced that the 1967 outer space treaty prohibition of national appropriation in outer space would not apply to individuals hope registered at the federal offi ce of his county a claim over the moon and a lunar constitution 19 subse quently copyrighting his work with the us copyright registry offi ce 20 he also sent notifi cations of his claim to the soviet and us governments and to the un but he did not receive any answer 20 convinced of the legality of his claim hope divided the visible side of the moon in to three million parcels 19 that he began selling in supermarkets his business stagnated however until a relaunch by a 1996 tv 19 and the advent of the internet 21 hope has extended his extraterrestrial real estate business to properties on mars venus and io with new celestial bodies being planned to be introduced every four months 22 fexcept for jupiter s moon europa which is not for sale because of the message beamed to earth from the aliens of arthur c clarke s 2010 all these worlds are yoursfexcept europa attempt no landings there 20 excluded from hope s business are also locations such as the apollo landing sites the alleged martian face and pyramids and the lunar crater thought to contain water as these are viewed even by the lunar embassy as needing to remain public for the good of humankind it being irres ponsible to sell these historic areas and sole natural resources 20 while the lunar embassy recognizes the rights of third parties to land on and explore extraterrestrial parcels if however someone wants to land on your property to do something else such as build or mine minerals that is a diff erent issue entirely 22 this is because the lunar deed to a 1777 acre parcel on the moon sold by the lunar embassy is inclusive of the mineral rights 19 22 besides this the purchase price of 15 99 plus 10 postage and packing and 1 16 lunar tax 22 includes a lunar map showing the location of the property the lunar constitution and bill of rights and a copy of the short story called you own the what which contains a copy of the declaration of ownership that was fi led with the us government 23 2 2 star wars a new hope given the increasing interest among the public in purchasing lunar properties hope has extended his businessbyappointing lunarambassadors in v pop space policy 17 2001 195 203196 diff erent countries e g francis p williams who has purchased the british franchise from the lunar embassy inseptember2000 dealingunderthenameof 24 besides such lunar embassy approved business a number of copycat compa nies fat least six by august 1997 9 fhave appeared such as the universal lunarian society which sells parcels on the lunar crater copernicus for 50 an acre 25 and the martian consulate 1 the latter does not sell martian property as it specifi cally claims not to own mars by admitting that nobody can claim ownership of a celestial body the martian consulate maintains that it is the only legal martian claim registry in existence its aim is instead to provide a legal queue in which legal entities y may register to make a claim for 1 square mile of property on the planet mars the martian consulate is intended to provide a service accepting the names and addresses of individuals and companies adding these names to a registry of claims currently secured in the vaults of a swiss bank while recognising that at the moment there is nowhere to go to stake a claim for property on mars and have that claim be legally binding the martian consulate waits instead for the permanent colonisation of mars and its eventual independence when it will submit its registry of claims to the newly founded martian government recognised as the only organisation which will ever be able to truly grant legally binding claims to martian property only then if your name is in our registry you or your children grandchildren great grandchil dren etc will own a piece of mars in the meantime the client receives a certifi cate of deed registration staking a claim for 1 square mile of real estate on the planet mars y bearing the coordinates of one square mile of prime martian real estate y claimed for evermore in the name of the certifi cate s namesake together with a survey plan which visually pinpoints the exact location of your property the name of the client and martian plot location are recorded in the martian consulate s offi cial mars deed registry 1 the large number of entities claiming to own the same slice of the pie in the sky has naturally led to curious star wars in the world of extraterrestrial real estate in 1996 hope s claim to the moon was challenged in a diplomatic but fi rm cease and desist letter by martin juergens he seems to have petitioned the german government to take the matter up with the us at a diplomatic level 22 not surprisingly no such action appears to have been taken another person disputing hope s claim is italian pensioner fernanda alessan drini who has hired legal advisors after discovering that in 1990 hope sold to someone else the lunar land she had bought from another american fi rm 24 realising in 1997 that the lunar embassy had sold the same two plots she bought in 1970 from celestial gardens to somebody else she petitioned the white house and the united nations in september 2000 and is said to have sued for fraud her lawyers having already demanded that the lunar embassy drop its claim over the moon 17 other legal battles may yet arise sue williams co owner of the british franchise of the lunar embassy warned that legal action would be taken against others attempting to sell plots on the moon mars or venus 24 this author is looking forward to the reaction of the courts when approached with such trivial matters it is interesting to see whether any court will declare itself competent given that the matter is not too diff erent from having to decide in a playground confl ict which of two boys claiming to be superman is the real thing a legal battle over an extraterrestrial real estate matter almost reached the court in yemen nevertheless in july 1997 adam ismail mustafa khalil and abdullah al umari fi led a lawsuit in san a against nasa demanding immediate suspension of all pathfi nder operations on mars until a court delivers a verdict allegedly mars has belonged to their ancestors for 3000 years and they claimed nasa s martian mission by not informing them or seeking their approval allegedly trespassed on their property they also asked that the court order nasa to refrain from disclosing any new astronomical information pertaining to mars before receiving formal approval from them or until a verdict is reached 26 the plaintiff s immediately withdrew the case when the yemeni prosecutor general mohammad al bady threa tened them with arrest 27 while it is unknown whether the three yemeni were aware of the strikingly similar ranger 3 aff air it was later revealed that the plaintiff s based their claim on mythologies of the hymaritic and sabaean civilisations which existed several thousand years before christ 28 not discouraged by their court failure one year later they off ered to sell land on mars for 2 a square meter assuring buyers they would be issued a deed of ownership for their acquisition 28 2 3 sancta simplicitas as seen above the mass media is very enthusiastic about reporting on what gyula gal calls the best news in silly season 11 some reports ignorant of the real legal provisions applicable to the extraterrestrial realms feature the whole business in a positive tone while most of them take a light hearted approach academics however aware of the trivial aspect of the aff air rarely commentfexcept maybe the institute of air and space law of the university of cologne which stated in the juergens aff air that donation by a prussian sovereign had no legal validity 29 as for most authorities they seemundisturbedbytheactivitiesofthelunar embassy for reasons to be explained below in contrast to the fi rmer tone used in the ismail khalil there must be both an intention to take the thing and some act of a physical nature giving eff ect to that intention 35 the fi rst element required is the animus possidendi the intention to possess however dennis hope cannot own the moon just because he wants to he lacks the second element required in the acquisition of possession namely the corpus possi dendi without an act of a physical nature giving eff ect to the intention to take the thing animus is insuffi cient the scottish jurist stair has explained this in very illustrative terms if any act of the mind were enough possession would be very large but imaginary 36 as large as the solar system in the case of hope who has a very active animus but no corpus at all in the juergens case the application of the inter temporal law would produce no legal eff ects favourable to him thus while the moon may have been claimable in the pastfbeing free from the retroactive application of the contemporary non appropriation principlefeven at that time a corpus was necessary in addition to animus no traces of prussian boots have been found in the lunar dust to serve as proof of corpus the argument of the present author is shared by philip mcdougal associated legal offi cer at the un offi ce for outer space aff airs in the hope aff air he declared that n o legal system allows for the claim of ownership rights in this way 24 indeed animus alone may not confer ownership under any legal systemfeven the mythical world of aladdin requires a genius in a lamp that makes the wishes come true by reductio ad absurdum should this not be the case it would be impossible to prove that there was nobody else who wished to own the moon and the stars beforehand thus it is reported that alexander the great was furious on learning that the planets were other worlds he was incapable of reaching millennia later in 1902 cecil rhodes wrote the world is nearly all parcelled out and what there is left of it is being divided up conquered and colonised i would annex the planets if i could i often think of that it makes me sad to see them so clear and yet so far 37 thesituationmayhoweverchangeinhope s instance while still maintaining that he already owns the moon and other celestial bodies hope has publi cized his intention to establish a corpus in march 2001 he launched the affi davit project calling on the willing lunar embassy clients to write an affi davit describing their lunar property on cigarette paper hope plans to gather about one million such affi davits which he intends to send to a designated area on the moon the purpose of the project is to physically represent each of the participating property owners to place a signed document on the surface of the moon in order to strengthen through physical possession your ownership of the purchased lunar property 38 should hope succeed in raising the 55 60 million necessary for the project and in landing his payload on the moon thenfand only thenfmight he show evidence of corpus in support of his claim although at that time further legal problems will need to be dis cussed such as its extent and its validity in the light of the outer space treaty s non appropriation principle while the above applies to all the other celestial property owners who base their claims on pure animus james benson intends to claim corporate ownership of an asteroid only after having established eff ective possession by means of telepresence the founder of the space exploration company spacedev envisages landing a probe on an asteroid and besides collecting scientifi c v pop space policy 17 2001 195 203198 data planting its corporate fl ag there 22 the near earth asteroid prospector neap mission idea and the search for candidate asteroids started in late 1996 early 1997 39 in 1998 benson declared the target to be near earth