Lors de sa 12e session tenue à La Haye du 2 au 21 octobre 1972, la Conférence de la Haye de droit international privé a abordé le problème de plus en plus actuel, mais mal élucidé tant en droit interne qu'en droit international privé de la responsabilité du fait des produits (products liability).

Man entered the threshold of his last unexplored frontier in 1957 with the launching of Sputnik I into outer space. The transition from the scientific and technological wonder that Sputnik I created to the use of outer space for the benefit of man has been at an exceedingly fast pace. Yet the frontier has just begun to be revealed and the exploitation of the common resource of outer space is in its infancy. Developments in space technology in years to come will determine more accurately the fuller potential of this resource. The rapid increase in space activity with advances in space technology has resulted in a constantly changing legal order for accommodating social, political, military, and economic aspects of these activities.

The concept of international river law as defined in its three branches i.e., 1) the determination of state boundaries in frontier waters 2) the physical interferences (Immissionen) in waters between states, 3) the trans-boundary navigation on international rivers appears to clearly define any international river law relationship only in the branch of state boundary determination. The application of international river law to physical interferences in the waters between states is of doubtful scope, while the question whether or not navigation on international rivers is to be construed as part of international river law seems to be not just a question of terminology but of dogmatics.

Originally the scope of the application of international river law was not based on the concept of interferences in waters as a physical unit. However, the growing needs arising from industrial development and the development of law on the basis of such industrial phenomena as hydroelectric power, water pollution, high rate water consumption, etc., has progressively focused this scope of application from the starting doctrine of “international river” (internationaler Fluss), borrowed from the international law of navigation but with the element of “navigability” removed, to the doctrine of “international river system” (internationales Flusssystem), then to the doctrine of “coriparian states system” (Flussanliegerstaatensystem) and, finally, to the doctrine of “international drainage or river basin” (internationales Flussbecken) which is widely recognized today. This development is particularly noteworthy since the scope of this body of law refers to any water interference whatsoever in the area of a drainage basin. The notion of international drainage basin, however, will fail if there are interferences in the waters outside this area. Already since World War II there have been instances of artificial production of precipitation which have caused disputes between member states of the USA. It would therefore seem that the natural circuit of water (natürlicher Wasserkreislauf) Sea-Air-Ground-Sea should be the appropriate scope for the application of international drainage basin law excepting, however, the High Sea which is governed by the international law of the High Sea. This conception would fill the lacuna between the scope of the international law of the High Sea and that of the international law of drainage basin, the latter becoming thereby an international law of natural water circuit. This international law of natural water circuit as a law concerning physical interferences is therefore part of the international law of (physical) interferences or international law of neighbourhood which has to be defined as the body of legal norms governing physical interferences between states, the cause of which has its origin in one state, the effect, however, by virtue of physical laws, manifesting itself in another state, acts of God excepted. As far as water interferences are concerned the notion of international river law — a term that may be used furthermore for convenience — should be understood in the sense of an international law of natural water circuit.

1. “Space for World Development”, which was chosen by the International Astronautical Federation as the main theme of its Vienna Congress in October 1972, is particularly relevant when referring to space communications. Indeed, a “global strategy of development”, during this second development decade, will largely be based on technological advances in the field of satellite telecommunications. Moreover, increased cooperation among States in this domain will certainly be of great benefit for mutual understanding among people and for world peace. Unfortunately, what one witnesses today is an earthbound picture of national rivalries projected into outer space. To be sure, regional and interregional agreements or even international instruments intended to have a world-wide basis retouch this picture. However, a unified system of communications comprising both the Eastern and Western countries does not so far exist. Such a system, under the authority of the United Nations or one of its specialized agencies, such as the International Telecommunications Union, which a few years ago seemed unlikely unless “some form of world government is acceptable to the great powers”, appears today somewhat more feasible. General principles for space communications have been and are presently elaborated which, if finally adopted, will, to some extent, contribute to a rapprochement of competing systems in space communications.

1. L'art. 245 de l'ancien CPC (1834) déclarait que “Ne peuvent constituer l'objet d'une preuve … 3) des règles juridiques fondées sur les lois générales de l'Etat et non seulement celles basées sur des usages locaux, sur des coutumes, sur des traditions, ou sur des lois étrangères”. Les juges, dans leur quasi-totalité, avaient interprété cet article comme imposant la preuve du droit étranger. En le traitant comme un élément de fait, ils l'appliquaient secundum allegata et probata. En outre, le droit étranger n'était appliqué que lorsqu'il était différent du droit hellénique; s'il n'y avait pas de différence le droit hellénique s'appliquait, comme étant similaire au droit étranger (sur ce mode d'opération — “identiteits-hypotese” — v. en général Jessurun d'Oliveira, De antikiesregel. Een paar aspekten van de behandeling van buitenlands recht in het burgerlijk proces, 1971).