Journal of Air Law and Commerce

  • JALC

    The Journal of Air Law and Commerce, a quarterly publication of the School of Law, is the oldest scholarly periodical in the English language devoted primarily to the legal and economic problems affecting aviation and space.

    Since its foundation at Northwestern University in 1930 and move to ÃÛÌÒ½´in 1961, the Journal of Air Law & Commerce continues to publish articles addressing domestic and international problems of the airline industry, private aviation, space, and general legal topics with a significant impact on aviation. Articles are written by distinguished lawyers, economists, government officials, and scholars. The Journal also publishes editorial comments written by students. Readership is worldwide with more than 2,300 subscribers in 54 countries.

    The Journal sponsors SMU’s annual Air Law Symposium on selected problems in aviation law. More than 500 aviation lawyers and industry representatives attend the Symposium annually.

Recent Articles in Volume 89, Issue 3 (2024)

By Paul B. Larsen –  Sixty years later, Professor Paul B. Larsen revisits and discusses seven outer space legal issues identified by early space law experts and their current impacts on space policy. The first section addresses the ambiguous boundary of the non-sovereign outer space legal regime which, increasingly causes states to claim control of non-sovereign outer space. Second, Larsen analyzes how the lack of outer space regulation by an international agency like the International Civil Aviation Organization has encouraged states to seek to control outer space unilaterally. []


By Jae Woon Lee et al. – The EU-ASEAN Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement (CATA) is the latest example of the EU’s effort to set a “global benchmark” in the regulation of international air transport. The EU-ASEAN CATA is an exceptional ASA for its geographic coverage, liberalizing impact, and expanded substantive scope. As the first-ever bloc-to-bloc ATA with 27 EU member states and 10 ASEAN member states respectively and a combined population of 1.1 billion, the EU-ASEAN CATA will make a significant impact not only on stakeholders in the EU and ASEAN, but furthermore on the rest of the world. The article aims to thoroughly examine the landmark EU-ASEAN CATA from its evolutional path to its potential as a global benchmark. [] 


By Sarah J. Fox – In August 2023, following its successful mission, Virgin Galactic announced the intention to provide scheduled services into space. Yet, this paper sets out to present evidence to argue that, from an international (U.N.) perspective, there has been a lack of activity to establish safeguards and to ensure a fit for purpose governance and oversight mechanism is in place for this new and growing sector—space tourism. The research is undertaken by way of a comparison law/policy analysis which factors in key historic events across both aviation and space. The main focus is given to the developments and approach of the U.S. []
 

Contact

Journal Coordinator
Lisa Ponce
jalc_admin@smu.edu

President
Mikey Sanders
  

Editor-in-Chief
Jenny Hulse
jalceic@smu.edu

Managing Editor
Cameron King
jalcme@smu.edu

Air Law Symposium Editors
Kellie Maguiness
Cole Connor
Reese Glusing
Jillian Smoorenburg

Submissions

Submission Instructions

Related links

Annual Air Law Symposium

ÃÛÌÒ½´Annual Texas Survey

ÃÛÌÒ½´Law Review

ÃÛÌÒ½´Law Review Forum

Write-on Information