Air and Aviation

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Introduction:
Air means the mixture of gases that surround the Earth and that we breathe, or
the space above the ground. The air law is also known as the aviation law as it
relates to the carriage of individuals or goods by aircraft. In this paper, we will
give a brief analysis about the historical background of the air & aviation law. First
of all, we will explain what does air and aviation law means and why should we
study the law. Then finally we will show the how the air and aviation law
developed.

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What is Air & Aviation Law?
The word aviation was coined by French writer & former naval officer Gabriel La
Landlle in 1873. Aviation is the practical aspect or art of aeronautics, being the
design, development, production, operation & use of aircraft. On the other
words, aviation is a science & tractice of anything havier than aircraft like
helicopter, aeroplanes or gliders. Aircraft are those having no engine moving
through ero dynamic force.
There is considerable difference of opinion in academic circles around the
problem of finding a satisfactory definition of Air law. Yet a study of standard
works on the subject reveal a common formula which has found more or less
general acceptance which is - “Air Law is a body of rules governing the use of
airspace and its benefits for aviation, the general public and the nations of the
world.
Aviation law is the branch of international law that concerns flight, air travel, and
associated legal and business concerns. Some of its area of concern overlaps that
of admiralty law and in many cases, aviation law is considered a matter of
international law due to the nature of air travel. However, the business aspects of
airlines and their regulation also fall under aviation law. In the international
realm, the International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO] provides general rules
and mediates international concerns to an extent regarding aviation law.

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Why the International Air and Aviation Law is essential:
Air Law is a series of rules governing the use of airspace and its benefits for
aviation, the general public and the nations of the world. In presence, the term of
Aeronautical Law1 is currently being used especially in Romance languages, while
Air Law is practically adopted in the rest regimes.
The study of air law is particularly important for the following reasons:
1. Aviation is still in the process of achieving its next phase of development in ever
largest circle. For many persons and organizations it is a matter of practical
importance to gather at least some basic knowledge of the subject. For instance,
when a person boards an aircraft as a passenger and reads the small print on his
ticket he suddenly realizes that he is bound by the provision of the Warsaw
Convention. It will be useful to posses some means of appreciating the benefits
and disadvantages of the rules to which he has become bound.
2. Air law is intertwined with other areas of laws at several points. It involves
many aspects of Constitution law, Administrative Law, Civil law, Commercial law
and especially Criminal Law. Its international nature is always paramount.
3. Air law offers a striking example of how existing legal rules can be swiftly
adopted to the impressive technological progress achieved in recent years.

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Historical development of Air & Aviation Law:
Air law has been described as the last born of judicial notions ‘. Its very origin,
however, can be traced back to classical Roman law, when the basic problem of
rights in the airspace was first noted.
A real historical curiosity, however, is the doctoral thesis of a certain Johannes
Stephen Dancko presents in 1867 to University Viadrina. The author of the thesis
admits the res omnium communis quality of the air i.e. the air belongs to
everyone but preserves for the ruler special patrimonium prohibiting the general
population to hunt birds and to use wind for windmills without authorization or
even to display fireworks in the air.
As early as 1900 the French Jurist Fauchille suggested that a code of international
air navigation be created by the “institute de Droit International”, and it is
interesting to note, en passant, that this was one of the rare instances where legal
process went ahead of technology.
However, earlier, brother joshef Michel and Etienne Jacques Montgolfier
constructed the hot balloon which took off in Annonany on 4th
June, 1783,
Versailles on 19 September 1783 and in Paris on 21 November on same year. The
hot balloon was a primitive contraption built of fabric, paper, rope and wicker
basket and the hot air war generated by an open fire pit fed with wood, straw and
paper. But the balloon was not dirigible and controllable and was essentially at
the mercy of the prevailing wind. This invention of wooden structure was proved
hazardous to the densely populated countries. On 13 November, 1874, not even
one year after the experiment a lieutenant of police in Paris issued a directive that
balloon must not be operated in city without prior police permission that seems
to be the very first real trace of aviation law in history, a prohibition aimed at the
safety of person and property on the ground.
In 1903, the Hot air Balloons were transferred by balloons filled with hydrogen
and air ships (zeppelins). And the history was made on 17 December 1903 when
the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright accomplished a 12 seconds’ powered
heavier than air controlled sustained flight with a pilot aboard at Kitty Hawk ,

5. 5
north Carolina. That time there was no legal framework existed to proced and
governs this historical achievement.
On 25 July 1909, French aviator Louis Bleriot crossed the English Channel between
Les Barraques, French, and Dover, England – a distance of 38 Km flown in 37
minutes. No legal steps were taken to authorize the flight and its landing in a
foreign territory and Bleriot didn’t even carry his French passport or any other
identification paper.
Military interests in aviation appeared at a very early stage. Military observation
balloons were used at the time of French revolution by the end of the 18 century ;
during Napoleonic wars, US Civil wars 1861-1865 and the Franco Prussian War
1870- 1871. The first international Peace Treaty Conference in 1899 at the Hague
prohibited “the discharge of projectiles from balloons ‘but it applied only as a
“moratorium “for a period of five years.
The practice of stated early in the 20 century in convincingly illustrated but the
shooting down of foreign military balloons that were alleged to have crossed the
boundary for espionage purposes e.g. for taking photograph for fortification
purposes – the Russian having the primacy in the defense against “intruders “by
shooting down Germany military balloons in 1904 – 1910. Similar incidents
occurred in German / Belgium and German / French border before the war of
1914 to 19
Source of Air Law:
Air law has taken on its international character and emerged on an international
plane almost from the very beginning, that is, the first flights between Paris and
London; the Paris Convention was concluded in 1919, the year in which that flight
took place. Due to the rapid developments in aviation and with the lawmakers
attempting to keep pace, custom has largely been bypassed as a source of law,
but the result that Air Law is mainly consisting of written law. International
Custom, in practical, constitutes an important source of international law

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applicable in the absence of an agreement or complementing it. But in the view of
the development of treaty laws, the application of International Custom is not
much in use in the domain of aviation as time goes by.
However, there are some legal instruments like conventions, treaty, bilateral
agreements through which the air and aviation law developed.
The legal instrumental developments have been discussed below-
The Paris Conference 1910:
It is recorded that between April and November 1908 at least ten German
balloons were alleged to have crossed the Franco-German border and landed on
French soil carrying more than 26 aviators, the majority of those were German
officers. Wishing to avoid international confrontation, the French government
proposed that an international conference be convened with the purpose of
devising regulatory procedures relating to flights into and over foreign territory.
The 1910 Paris international air navigation conference represents the first
diplomatic effort to formulate the principles of international law relating to air
navigation.
As a result, on the invitation of France, the first important conference on an
international air law code was convened in Paris in 1910 held from 18 May to 29
June at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The conference was attended by 20
European states like Australia, Belgium, Hungary , Denmark, Bulgaria , French,
Germany , Great Britain , Italy , Luxemburg, Monaco , Netherlands, Portugal ,
Russia , Serbia , Rumania , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland and Turkey , a fairly
representation of Europe only. USA and nations from other continents were not
invited, given the distances involved, the prospect of their aircraft operating in
Europe was considered unrealistic. A number of basic principles governing
aviation were laid down.
The academic thinking of that time concentrated its attention on the legal status
of the air space id “free” as the high seas and whether states have some special

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right s up to its territorial seas or whether other states have rights of innocent
passage etc. only few authors advocated at the time the authority of complete
sovereign rights of states over the air space above their territory. Hence, we can
see that the aviation law developed from the law of High Sea by Hugo Gracious in
1609. However, the conference carefully avoided the issues relating to the
general principles of status of air space or whether the air space was part of the
sovereign territory of the subjacent states etc.
Commissions were held on the four subjects: law of nation; administrative and
technical; customs; regulation of the aerial navigation. The draft international
convention relating to the aerial navigation comprised three annexes: marks of
nationality and registration; characteristics of the aircraft; rules of the air traffic.
But, the issue of equal treatment of all civil aircraft, whether national or foreign,
within usable airspace was to become the obstacle beyond which the conference
was unable to progress. Therefore, this large diplomatic conference finished on
an acknowledgement of failure, since no government took action on the
ratification of the convention.
There was crucial disagreements among the states concerning the right of foreign
flight over the national territory; while Germany and French advocating wide
freedom and national treatment of foreign treatment while Great Britain , Russia
etc stressed the territorial states right to limit such rights of over flights for
national sovereign and so on.
The conference should have convened at a latter session but the war 1914 to
1918 interrupted to any international cooperation. During that devastating First
World War the aviation technology marked a tremendous progress and proves to
be a new and potent weapon. Both the belligerents and neutral states vigorously

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protected the air space above their territory and the general perception of
aviation became closely linked to national security. It is to be noted that the
subsequent rapid development of air law occurred in the shadow of the war and
reflects the security concerns of states.
The aerial navigation Act, 1911 :
In 1911, the British Parliament passed the Aerial Navigation Act, giving Britain the
power to close British airspace, including parts of the English Channel, to all
foreign aircraft. Clearly at that time, Europe was preparing for war and many
European countries passed similar legislation. However, one must look beyond
this draft convention with some uncompleted articles; in comparing its style and
substance with the subsequently successful 1919 Paris Air Navigation Convention,
the remarkable similarities in content, substance, and also in the precise wording
of the articles and annexes stand out forcefully. Great Britain’s first aviation
government office, the Department of Air Ministry, came about because of the
insistence of the Royal Aero Club. This club was to be the catalyst for international
aviation code. At the club’s behest, Parliament passed a series of laws (The Aerial
Navigation Acts) limiting entry of foreign aeroplane into British international
boundaries.

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The Paris convention 1919:
The Paris Convention of 1919 also known as the Convention Relating to the
Regulation of Aerial Navigation was the first multilateral international convention
to address the political difficulties and intricacies involved in international aerial
navigation. It attempted to reduce the confusing patchwork of ideologies and
regulations which differed by country by defining certain guiding principles and
provisions, and was signed in Paris on October 13, 1919. The nations that signed
the treaty were: Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, the British Empire, China, Cuba, Ecuador,
France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, the Hedjaz, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia,
Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia,
Siam, Czechoslovakia, and Uruguay. Ultimately, the convention was ratified by 11
states, including Persia, which had not signed it. The United States never ratified it
because of its linkage to the League of Nations. The treaty came into force in
1922.
Though this convention is no longer in force and superseded by the subsequent
Chicago Convention, but its pioneering contribution to the formulation of some
basic concepts of air law survives and maintains its relevance.
The following principles governed the drafting of the convention:
1. Each nation has absolute sovereignty over the airspace overlying its
territories and waters. A nation, therefore, has the right to deny entry and
regulate flights (both foreign and domestic) into and through its airspace.
2. Each nation should apply its airspace rules equally to its own and foreign
aircraft operating within that airspace, and make rules such that its
sovereignty and security are respected while affording as much freedom of
passage as possible to its own and other signatories' aircraft.
3. Aircraft of contracting states are to be treated equally in the eyes of each
nation's law.
4. Aircraft must be registered to a state, and they possess the nationality of
the state in which they are registered.

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The Paris convention 1919 created 2 bodies named
1. International commission on air navigation (ICAN)&
2. International air traffic association (IATA)
International commission on air navigation (ICAN):
The first concrete step in effecting international regulation of air navigation was
taken by the Aeronautical Commission of the Peace Conference in 1919 when it
drew up the International Air Convention of October 13, 1919, instituting the
International Commission for Air Navigation (which came into being in July, 1922)
in order to provide rules for air traffic. It was a permanent commission placed
under the direction of League of Nations.
One of the legally important duties of the ICAN was the amendment of Annexes
to the convention that contained more detailed provisions about the nationality
and registration of aircraft , certificates of airworthiness , rules of the air, signals
to be used etc. . ICAN was by no means the first international organization
designed to further the growth of aviation.
International air traffic association (IATA):
IATA was another body founded in the convention 0n 1919 created by 6 European
countries. Its mission was to represent, to lead and to serve the air line industry.
As with course of time, the airline industries are rapidly progressing, immediately
after the 1945, the IATA had to handle the worldwide responsibilities with a more
systematic organization and a larger infrastructure. In fact, nowadays, the
international scheduled air service is now 100 times larger than it was before
1945.
In April 1945, the International air traffic association was superseded by
international air transport association found in Havana, Cuba. It is consists of 57
airlines from 31 countries. ATA supports airline activity and helps formulate

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industry policy and standards. It is headquartered in Montreal, Canada with
Executive Offices in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Madrid convention, 1926:
Another attempt to regulate the international civil aviation was initiated in 1926
by Spain and motivated with the political ambitions and the rivalry of the Spain
with ICAN as well as League of Nations. As a result, Spain decided to initiate a
diplomatic counteraction and invited all Latin American and Caribbean States and
Portugal to the Ibero-American Conference to be held in Madrid from 25 to 30
October 1926.
At the end of a Conference, the Ibero-American Convention on Air Navigation was
created. This convention differed from the Paris Convention in that it differently
took account of the principle of the equal voting rights of its members (Article 34)
and the right for a Contracting State to permit the flight above its territory of an
aircraft that did not possess the nationality of a Contracting State (Article 5).
Twenty-one European and American states from Spanish and Portuguese origins
signed this Convention on 1 November 1926.
The Ibero-American Air Convention was modelled after the Paris Convention and
its wording was virtually identical in most of the articles; only the offensive
articles of the Paris Convention were significantly amended to assure the equality
of States and eliminate any discriminatory implications concerning the States.
Ultimately, this Convention had a limited impact because of the restricted
number of ratifications that it received; whereas 21 States (Spain, Portugal and 19
Latin American countries) attended the Madrid Conference, only 7 States
(Argentina, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Spain and
Paraguay) deposited their instruments of ratification. Moreover, when the
Havana Convention emerged in 1926, it was said that there was no longer need
for a second alternative to the Paris Convention, as the 1926 Madrid Convention
largely mirrored the text and annexes of the 1919 Paris Convention. Argentina
and Spain renounced the Convention by 1933 and joined the ICAN; the Madrid

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Convention never came into force. It was no more than the result of political
posturing of Spain trying to assert leadership in Latin America.
The Madrid Convention was never registered with any international body and was
completely ignored in the Chicago Convention. Its lack of success was due to
three factors:
1. Aircraft of the period were not sufficiently developed to tie together Iberia and
Latin America;
2. Spain’s political environment during the period was very unsettled,
deteriorating into Civil War;
3. A few years after the Madrid Convention, Latin American energies focused on
North America away from Iberia.
The Havana convention, 1928:
Another attempt for codification of air law on a regional basis was made by the
commercial aviation commission of the Pan American Union. The convention was
adopted at sixth Pan American conference in Havana on 2o January, 1928 and has
been known as the convention on the commercial aviation or Havana Convention
1928. It was ratified by 11 states. It death with the technical and operational
aspects of aviation and left the establishment of international routes and the
granting of traffic rights to the multilateral negotiations.
The practical impact of the convention would amount to multilateral granting of
the “five freedoms of the air “which are addressed in later convention. It does not
provided anybody or Annex.

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The Havana convention is no longer applicable but its liberal handling of the
traffic rights still inspires the partisans of the “open skies” and free competition of
the air transport service in a borderless world.
The Chicago convention, 1944:
The Chicago convention represents a major landmark in the development of the
international air and aviation law.
The advent of World War II, while interrupting civilian flying, did not stop
international civil aviation, It is needless to say that the aviation made during
World War II not only resulted in horror and human tragedies but that its
utilization also significantly advanced the technical and operational possibilities of
air transport in a world which had finally found peace again. In fact, for the first
time, large numbers of people and goods had been transported over long
distances and ground facilities had been developed to permit this in an orderly
and expeditious manner.
By the spring of 1942, more than two years before the end of war, it was
apparent that civil air transport would play a large and important role in
international relations; serious discussions of political and diplomatic
arrangements for international civil aviation had begun mainly in Canada, the
United Kingdom and the United States. At the Anglo-American Conference held in
Quebec City from 10 to 24 August 1943 (the First Quebec Conference, which took
place at the Citadelle and the Château Frontenac), Roosevelt and Churchill
discussed post-war aviation policy and were planning for a United Nations type of
organization to handle some aspects of international civil aviation. The Prime
Minister of Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie King, hosted this wartime
conference. Meanwhile, as the year 1944 progressed and as the war took a turn
for the better, it became even more apparent that the time was rapidly

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approaching when some nations would want to initiate new international air
services on a regular commercial basis.
On 11 September 1944, the United States extended an invitation 53 governments
and two Ministers in Washington (Danish and Thai) for an international civil
aviation conference to be convened in the United States on 1 November 1944 to
"make arrangements for the immediate establishment of provisional world air
routes and services" and "to set up an interim council to collect, record and study
data concerning international aviation and to make recommendations for its
improvement." The Conference was also invited to "discuss the principles and
methods to be followed in the adoption of a new aviation convention". On 7
October 1944, the Department of State announced the selection of the Stevens
Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, as the site for the International Civil Aviation Conference.
Because of the Dumbarton Oaks conversations (from 21 August to 7 October
1944), the first concrete step towards an international organization for the
maintenance of peace and security, were a Washington conference, President
Roosevelt requested Adolf A. Berle, Jr., Assistant Secretary of State, Head of the
US delegation to the conference, to find another site for the aviation conference.
The city of Chicago was suggested, which would bring an international conference
to the isolated Midwest.
Out of the 53 invited states, only two did not accept: Saudi Arabia, and the USSR
which refused to participate. Opened on 1 November 1944, the Chicago
Conference, as it came to be known, was eventually attended by 52nations
including USA together with two observer nations, without the privilege of
voting, Denmark and Thailand; the occupied Denmark and Thailand were
represented only by their Ministers with the rank of Ambassadors attending in
their personal capacity. The Conference was attended by a total of 185 delegates,
156 advisers, experts and consultants, 45 secretaries, 105 clerks and
stenographers, 306 members of the Conference secretariat and 158 press
representatives, for a total of 955 persons participating directly or indirectly. This

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was estimated to be the largest international conference held in the United States
in those years. The great percentage of military officers (i.e. 90) in the delegations
was at that time the demonstrative evidence of the close relationship between
military and civil aviation.
For seven weeks, the delegates of fifty-two nations considered the problems of
international civil aviation. The most important result of the conference was the
drawing up of a Convention on International Civil Aviation (i.e. the Chicago
Convention, the original text of which was in English, French and Spanish), the
charter of a new body established to guide and develop international civil
aviation.
The Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization (PICAO) was established
by the Chicago Conference, as an interim body pending the ratification of a
permanent world civil aviation convention. The Canadian Government chose
Montreal for locating PICAO’s headquarters, as it was at that time the leading
metropolis of the country, the most cosmopolitan and international city; it was
also the main hub for international civil air transport.
On 7 December 1944, the Conference concluded with the signature of a final act
that was a formal and official record summarizing the work. The following main
instruments were contained in this final act:
1. The Interim Agreement on International Civil Aviation was opened for
signature. Its purpose was that of a bridging mechanism to permit an early
beginning of the global effort while awaiting the ratification of the Convention by
the 26th
State. This interim agreement was accepted by the 26th
State on 6 June
1945. Thus the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization (PICAO) was
born on that date. It functioned remarkably well until the permanent organization
came into force on 4 April 1947.
2. The Convention on International Civil Aviation was opened for signature
and designed to provide a complete modernization of the basic public
international law of the air. After ratification by twenty-six States, it came into
effect on 4 April 1947 (30 days after the 26th
State had ratified the Chicago

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Convention) with the constitution of the new permanent International Civil
Aviation Organization, ICAO, thus bringing an end to PICAO.
3. The International Air Services Transit Agreement or "Two Freedom"
agreement, under which the aircraft of member states may fly over each other's
territory and land for non-traffic purposes, e.g. refuelling. This document was a
great step forward in the path of international air transport development over a
large part of the world.
4. The International Air Transport Agreement or "Five Freedom" agreement. In
addition to the first two freedoms of the agreement mentioned above, three
freedoms concerning commercial transport rights were enacted.
5. The Drafts of twelve Technical Annexes (numbered from A to L) cover the
technical and operational aspects of international civil aviation, such as
airworthiness of aircraft, air traffic control, telecommunications, etc. The
conference achieved real advances in technical matters that would make
international flying much safer, more reliable and more straightforward than it
had been before the Second World War. From twelve Technical Annexes defined
by the Conference, nineteen Annexes to the Convention are now maintained to
achieve standardization through a uniform application of international standards
and recommended practices.
6. A standard form of Bilateral Agreement for the exchange of air routes was
prepared and recommended by the Conference as part of its final act.
It is to be noted that out of the 33 States, parties to the Paris Convention, 25
participated in the Chicago Conference; 19 of these put their signature on 7
December 1944 to the Act comprising the Final Convention; thus, the importance
of ICAN’s work was seen distinctly.

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The International Civil Aviation Conference turned out to be one of the most
successful, productive and influential conferences ever held.. As a result, ICAO
became the sole universal institution of international public aviation rights,
superseding the Paris Convention of 1919 and the Havana Convention of 1928.
For the first time in the history of international aviation, an authority would
facilitate the order in the air, introduce maximum standardization in technical
matters to unify the methods of exploitation and settle any differences that may
occur.
The document was signed on December 7, 1944 in Chicago, by 52 signatory
states. It received the requisite 26th ratification on March 5, 1947 and went into
effect on April 4, 1947, the same date that ICAO came into being. The Convention
has since been revised eight times (in 1959, 1963, 1969, 1975, 1980, 1997, 2000
and 2006).
As of 2013, the Chicago Convention has 191 state parties, which includes all
member states of the United Nations—except Dominica, Liechtenstein, and
Tuvalu—plus the Cook Islands.
The Chicago convention contains Articles with 19 Annexes. It is the main
constitution of the air and aviation law today.

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International civil aviation organization:
The convention established international civil aviation organization (ICAO) which
has became a specialized agency of the United Nations. It codifies the principles
and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and
development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth. Its
headquarters are located in the Quartier International of Montreal, Quebec,
Canada.
However, the forerunner to ICAO was the International Commission for Air
Navigation (ICAN). It held its first convention in 1903 in Berlin, Germany but no
agreements were reached among the eight countries that attended. At the
second convention in 1906, also held in Berlin, 27 countries attended. The third
convention, held in London in 1912 allocated the first radio callsigns for use by
aircraft. ICAN continued to operate until 1945.
Under terms of Chicago Convention, a Provisional International Civil Aviation
Organization (PICAO) was to be established, to be replaced in turn by a
permanent organization when 26 countries ratified the convention. Accordingly,
PICAO began operating on 6 June 1945, replacing ICAN. The 26th country ratified
the Convention on 5 March 1947 and, consequently PICAO was disestablished on
4 April 1947 and replaced by ICAO, which began operations the same day. In
October 1947, ICAO became an agency of the United Nations linked to the United
Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
As it is mentioned that Chicago convention is the main constitution of air law, yet
other conventions have also gradually developed to govern the many aspects of
the international air & aviation law. Among these are
1. Tokyo convention
2. Montreal convention, and
3. Hague convention.

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Here, we will give brief information about these latter legal instruments.
Tokyo Convention:
The Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed On Board
Aircraft, commonly called the Tokyo Convention, is an international treaty,
concluded at Tokyo on 14 September 1963. It entered into force on 4 December
1969, and as of 2013 has been ratified by 185 parties. The Convention is
applicable to offences against penal law and to any acts jeopardizing the safety of
persons or property on board civilian aircraft while in-flight and engaged in
international air navigation. Coverage includes the commission of or the intention
to commit offences and certain other acts on board aircraft registered in a
Contracting State in-flight over the high seas and any other areas beyond the
territory of any State in addition to the airspace belonging to any Contracting
State. Criminal jurisdiction may be exercised by Contracting States other than the
State of Registry under limited conditions, viz, when the exercise of jurisdiction is
required under multilateral international obligations, in the interest of national
security, and so forth.
The Convention, for the first time in the history of international aviation law,
recognizes certain powers and immunities of the aircraft commander who on
international flights may restrain any person(s) he has reasonable cause to
believe is committing or is about to commit an offence liable to interfere with the
safety of persons or property on board or who is jeopardizing good order and
discipline.

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Montreal Convention:
The Montreal Convention i.e. the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules
for International Carriage by Air is a multilateral treaty adopted by a diplomatic
meeting of ICAO member states in 1999. It amended important provisions of the
Warsaw Convention's regime concerning compensation for the victims of air
disasters. The Convention attempts to re-establish uniformity and predictability of
rules relating to the international carriage of passengers, baggage and cargo. It
protects passengers by introducing a two-tier liability system that eliminates the
previous requirement of proving willful neglect by the air carrier to obtain more
than $75,000 in damages, which should eliminate or reduce protracted litigation.
Hague Convention or Warsaw Convention:
The Convention for the Unification of certain rules relating to international
carriage by air, commonly known as the Warsaw Convention, is an international
convention which regulates liability for international carriage of persons, luggage,
or goods performed by aircraft for reward.
Originally signed in 1929 in Warsaw (hence the name), it was amended in 1955 at
The Hague, Netherlands, and in 1971 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. United States
courts have held that, at least for some purposes, the Warsaw Convention is a
different instrument from the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague
Protocol.
There are Five Chapters in this convention including a provision of successive
carriage and a combined carriage partly by air and partly by other modes of
transport as well.
So, these are the basic Historical background of the air and aviation law.

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How far these Legal Provisions are applicable:
Though all the legal instruments are very conclusive documents and strictly
followed by the international flights of the contracting states, but if we go
through the documents we will find that they also bear some weak provisions.
Moreover, it will not be wrong to d=say that inspite of these strict laws; there are
many disorders or illegal activities happening in some countries through aircraft.
Tin fact the Airline authority in some cases also found to be involved is unlawful
acts. For example, on 19 November, 2014, some senior officers of the Bangladesh
Biman were arrested of being involved in the smuggling of Gold in the cabin of his
crew.
Hence, the provisions should be strictly followed by the contracting states and the
authority should follow the laws accordingly.
Conclusion:
Finally, after the above discussion, we can now have the historical development
of the air and aviation law. And we can say the among the conventions mentioned
hereinbefore the Chicago convention is the main constitution of the international
air and aviation law of the world.

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Reference or Bibliography:
1. International Air law and ICAO
Michael milde.
2. An introduction to Air law
I.H.Ph. Diederiks – Verschoor
3. Convention as a source of international air law
Professor Dr. Paul Stephen Dempsey
Director, institute of air & space law
McGill University.
4. www.wikipedia.org