The sky is not the limit for Space Law pioneer Prof Stephan Hobe and TuksLaw Master's students

Posted on March 08, 2018

The Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria takes great pride in the fact that international Air and Space Law expert and extraordinary professor in the Department of Public Law at TuksLaw, Prof Stephan Hobe, has just completed his eight annual academic visit to TuksLaw since 2011.  The purpose of these annual visits is to present a two-week lecture to TuksLaw’s Master’s students enrolled for its Air, Space and Telecommunications Law programme.

Prof Hobe holds the Chair for Public International Law, European Law, European and International Economic Law at the University of Cologne since September 2001, and at the same time is Director of the Institute of Air and Space Law, University of Cologne and Co-Director of the International Investment Law Centre Cologne.  He is also author for and editor of the ‘Cologne Commentary on Space Law’, a three-volume annotation on the written norms of Space Law as enunciated through the Treaties of the United Nations and its General Assembly Resolutions. Furthermore he has edited an air law encyclopedia, the Cologne Compendium on Air Law in Europe.

Prof Hobe is the author of more than 300 publications in the fields of Public International Law, European Law, German Public Law, Air and Space Law and International Investment Law. He is also editor of the German Journal of Air and Space Law (ZLW), the series ‘Studies in Air and Space Law’ (Carl Heymanns Verlag / Cologne, Berlin, Bonn, Munich) and the book seriesCologne Studies on Public International Law and European Law’ (LIT-Verlag / Münster). He is also co-editor of the loose-leaf collection ‘Space Law – Basic Legal Documents’ (Eleven International Publishing / Utrecht).

In cooperation with Prof Erika de Wet (SARChI Professor of International Constitutional Law at TuksLaw), Prof Hobe played a key role in introducing the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition in South Africa and Africa.  Prof Hobe also presents lectures to Master’s students in Bulgaria, China, France and India as part of his academic outreach project.

Born in 1957 in Bremen, Germany, Prof Hobe studied law at the Universities of Munich, Freiburg and Göttingen. He received his LLM from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and his doctorate as well as his habilitation in law from the University of Kiel, Germany. He was awarded the Jean-Monnet Professorship for the Law of European Integration in 1998. Prof Hobe is Board member of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) and the German Society of International Law. He is the Rapporteur of the Space Law Committee of the International Law Association, Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, Member of the American Society of International Law and Member of the Advisory Board of the International Institute of Air and Space Law at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands.  He is also the Co-director of the Sports Law Centre and lectures to Master’s students in Bulgaria, China, France and India as part of his academic involvement outside Germany.

According to Prof Hobe in the ‘Survey of activities in 2017 of the Institute of Air and Space Law at the University of Cologne’, the major research activities and projects of 2018 will focus on the most recent developments in these fields, such as drones in air law, cyber operations in air and space, cyber security, space debris mitigation and remediation and, of course, a great deal on the ESA Convention commentary and space-traffic management.  Deo volente - the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria is looking forward to share again in the expert knowledge of Prof Hobe in 2019.

- Author Elzet Hurter

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