Mars Colony Legal Code

<p>HOW MUCH LAW DO WE BRING WITH US?</p><p>With so much interest in a manned mission to Mars the colonization of Mars is no longer a question of “if” but “when?”</p><p>What are the minimum legal requirements for operating the colony on Mars?   Should Mars even have its own law? Why not just use the laws of the space-faring nations? But what if those laws conflict?  </p><p>The time to plan for a legal regime for the Mars Colony is now and not later. By the time the colonists land on Mars it will be too late.</p><p>The Mars Colony Legal Code is not just an effort to answer the question "how much law do we take with us?" but also "and whose law?"</p><p>It's not science fiction. What if you had to write a legal code for Mars. Where would you start?</p><p>Of course you wouldn't start from scratch. But you wouldn't start with the hundred-plus volumes of the New York statutes either.</p><p>So what's the minimum? Look at Alaska in 1959. Take out hunting and fishing and you know you have the minimum to run a jurisdiction.</p><p>Or the legal regime for the former Canal Zone in Panama which while frozen in time also constitutes the bare minimum necessary to run a jurisdiction.</p><p>Other countries' laws are instructive modern and workable. This draft general legal Code is designed to be a comprehensive set of rules for the maintenance and operation of the planned Mars colony.</p>