Legal systems
Cosmic Law can be described as a set of legal systems regulating space activities, implying different legal ideologies and various subject composition, and also an environment of application that extends to outer space and celestial bodies beyond Earth.
Any researcher who studies the processes of regulation of space activities understands that Outer Space Law (Cosmic law) is a unique type of law.
That is why it cannot be compared with other types of law, such as maritime or air law because these types of law regulate relations within Earth. In turn, the planet Earth is the natural habitat of a human, where one is born, grows old, and lives, and where all natural environments are interconnected with each other and with a human.
However, the environment for the application of Outer Space Law is the Cosmos: open outer space, celestial bodies, stars, and other natural objects beyond Earth that are not the natural habitat of humans and do not belong to anyone. That is, outer space and celestial bodies are alien environments for a human, where one is only a guest.
In this regard, we should not expect from Outer Space Law the classical form of law due to the exclusivity of the environment concerning which this new law is developed. This also applies to States for which Outer Space Law can be formed both based on international treaties and unilateral obligations of States set out as joint public promises (Conventionalis stipulatio), which can be considered Resolutions and Declarations of the General Assembly of the United Nations (the UN General Assembly or UNGA) or other similar official documents.
Moreover, Outer Space Law would not always rely on hard international acts, and in the future, it may be based on new principles and conditions beyond State agreements, especially in the part that concerns human relations. No one deprives the United Nations of the capacity to develop a unified Outer Space Law for States, but this does not mean that people (in person, or through private companies, or non-governmental organizations) cannot elaborate their agreements on relations in outer space and on celestial bodies outside the United Nations. On the contrary, this means that there may be a large number of such agreements, depending on the number of space communities established on the basis of such agreements.
In turn, given the possibility of creating an unlimited number of different space communities, Outer Space Law may also consist of an infinite number of treaties, declarations, or other documents regulating relations in such communities that can have different subject compositions and be based on different principles and ideologies, which in turn can form different legal systems.
At the same time, already at the initial stage, it can be assumed that these legal systems may be worlds apart from each other.
For example, there may be legal systems designed for “Animal Rationale” individuals who can understand and voluntarily adhere to equitable principles. In this case, such legal systems would not be based on strict coercion to comply with norms of behavior but on voluntary compliance with any general principles, showing how to act correctly (fairly) and incorrectly (unfairly) without responsibility for incorrect actions.
There may also be classical legal systems that assume that all individuals are only “Animal capax Rationis”, that is, they could comply with rules (norms) only under the pressure of fear and responsibility. Such legal systems would establish (impose) mandatory compliance with specific rules of behavior (norms) despite doubts about their fairness with the mandatory establishment of responsibility for their violation.
There can be an infinite number of such legal systems. That is, it follows that Outer Space Law in a global projection may consist of diverse and fundamentally different legal systems. At the same time, some of these systems may already exist, and some may only be developed in the future.
Such diversity can exist until all cosmic communities decide to act based on a single generally accepted document (but only by voluntary agreement) or until they all move to a new level of spiritual relations.
Based on previous studies from this cycle, today we can assume the formation over time of at least three legal systems of Outer Space Law, namely, Outer Space Law of Principles (or Cosmic Law of Principles or Animal rationale jus), Outer Space Private Law (or Cosmic Private Law), Outer Space Public Law (or Cosmic Public Law).