The legal regime of outer space in light of the Law of the Sea - Ocean Sustainability in the 21st Century - page 395

against those countries without space capabilities, because of their lack of knowledge and
technology to access space.
The first article of the Treaty is closely connected with Article II, which provides for
an absolute prohibition of national appropriation of outer space, the Moon, and other celes-
tial bodies by claim of sovereignty, by use, occupation, or by any other means. The appro-
priation of such areas would not be compatible with the res communis omnium nature of
these commons and excludes any analogy with the practice put in place in the framework
ofinternational lawfollowingthediscoveriesofnewlands.Indeed,duringthefifteenthand
sixteenth centuries, the colonial states acquired extensive territories by occupation, having
considered that they did not belong to anybody ( res nullius ), and thus susceptible to appro-
priation by whomever through the effective control coupled with manifested intention to
establish sovereignty.
On the contrary, res communes are to be intended as a property for all, not suitable to
be the object of private rights, since they identify ' une appartenance à tous en indivision'
([property]whichbelongstoallandisindivisible)inordertobetterguaranteethecollective
rights (Kiss, 1982 ). According to Roman law, which extended the state sovereignty usque
ad sidera , some useful or essential assets for the life of human beings, such as water, air,
and the sea, were not suitable for occupation and accordingly everyone was entitled to en-
joy them: they could not be appropriated by anyone and consequently nobody could pre-
vent the right of others to utilize them. This entails that impairment of the freedoms of oth-
ers constitutes the limit of these freedoms (Paliouras, 2014 ) . Outer space, the Moon, and
other celestial bodies are common spaces belonging to the international community, so that
every state can utilize, but not appropriate them. 5
The expression 'province of mankind' is not intended to be connected with the territ-
ory, but with the exploration and use, so it is referred to rather as the 'responsibility over a
territory', a certain competence given to humanity as far as the activities in outer space and
on celestial bodies are concerned (Kerrest, 2001 ) . Therefore only humanity should be en-
titledtoregulateexplorationanduse,andnoentityispermittedtodothiswithouttheagree-
mentofhumanityasawhole,althoughininternational lawthisdoesnotenjoyalegalstatus