AVM206-AVIATION LAW

W1-CONCEPT AND DEFINITIONS

DR. CEYLAN YALÇIN
 The Wright brothers, Orville Wright and Wilbur were American aviation
pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first
successful motor-operated airplane.
 They made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-
air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, 6 KM.
 This important development can be
considered as the starting point of both
aviation and all fields related to aviation
including air law
 The term ‘air law’ is controversial and
imprecise but it has been used in
practice for over a centruy.
 The term ‘air law’ from its inception was
confined only to the legal regulation
social relations generated by
aeronautical uses of the airspace
 The term ‘air law’ may indicate that it is
an independent branch of law but it is
not!
What are the social relations regulated by law
and studied in the framework of the air law?
 Among different subjects to aviation-related social relations
could be governed by
 private law, (property, contract, torts)
 labor law, (contract of employement)
 administrative law, (licencing, certification)
 criminal law, (prevention and suppression of aviation terrorism)
 public international law, (air traffic agreements)
 privative international law, (conflict of laws ) etc.
 Air law includes 3 important concepts:
1. Aviation related aspects of NATIONAL LAW
2. COMPARATIVE LAW
3. INTERNATIONAL LAW
 Consequently, the ‘air law’ is not an
autonomous branch in the system of law but
rather a selection of rules from different
branches of law relevant for aviation.
 Aviation helps to shrink the distances of the
world and frequently crosses the national
boundaries
 This international nature of aviation
underlines the importance of ‘intenational
air law’.
 ICAO

 The International Civil Aviation Organization is a central focus

of international community through which the international law
is not only applied but is also created
ICAO
 ICAO was established in Chicago Convention of 1944 and
that is the fundamental source of the current international air
law.
 The impact of ICAO on the development of international air
law is enormous.
 International law must be understood as the
minimum common denominator of political
will of states expressed in treaties or
international custom
 Law must be understood as an integral and
powerful tool of the management process