Thanks guys. The Tokyo Convention has been an interesting read. I like the old laws…they aren’t too long, and easy enough to read ;)
But I do have a few questions still.
Firstly very few states are listed as signatories. Have most states subsequently joined the convention, or is its application still very limited.
Secondly, my reading is that this gives the state of registration power over acts committed on-board an aircraft in flight. Is my reading correct, that it does not take away the power of the state in which the aircraft is currently flying? For example let’s say a murder was committed on an American registered aircraft, while it was over France. My reading is that this convention gives the USA jurisdiction to prosecute it, but it doesn’t take away French jurisdiction over the murder. So either state can prosecute. If it’s over no country’s terrority, then only the USA has jurisdiction. Article 16 seems to make it read like that.
Colm
It’s not uncommon for airliners enroute to North America from Europe, to stop in Shannon in Ireland because of a disruptive passenger. They get prosecuted in Ireland from what I see. This suggests to me that the jurisdiction is in the place of landing.
I can well imagine that arrest and prosecution of a disruptive passenger (a threat to aviation safety) is covered under a specific clause and possibly some mutual agreements between states. So I would not assume that this particular example would translate one-on-one to the wider issue of jurisdiction in general.
Interestingly the Tokyo Convention offers a second definition of “in flight” as far as the “Powers of the Aircraft Commander” are concerned, i.e.
2. notwithstanding the provisions of Article 1, paragraph 3, an aircraft shall for the purposes of this Chapter, be considered to be in flight at any time from the moment when all its external doors are closed following embarkation until the moment when any such door is opened for disembarkation.
Tokyo Convention is clear on this. Inflight the aircraft is considered territory of the registration state.
So if you fly on an Emirates airlines flight between New York and Milian, you’re technically in UAE, and need to be cautious about any public affection?
Technically correct.
This is regulated in the Tokyo Convention which you can read here: https://treaties.un.org/doc/db/Terrorism/Conv1-english.pdf
According to the convention the aircraft is considered to be “in flight” from the moment power is applied for take-off until the moment the landing run ends.
In a past life I worked in some very dodgy countries where sometimes getting out fast was a concern. The info we always got was that the airplane became territory of the registry country as soon as it was cleared for take-off (i.e. on the runway, not while taxiing). Not sure if correct, though.
(I believe 14 years is the age of concent in Germany).
Below 14 they are legally “children”. Above that, legislation gets complicated. Parents can sue you for abusing their children until they are 18.
So if you fly on an Emirates airlines flight between New York and Milian, you’re technically in UAE, and need to be cautious about any public affection?
But if you’re on a Lufthansa flight which is taxiing out at Dubai International (assuming the aircraft is registered in the Germany) 14 year old girls are fair game? (I believe 14 years is the age of concent in Germany).
Let’s take a more extreme example. Suppose you are on a flight on a US airline, between two countries that do not have an extraditition treaty with the US. On the flight you commit a murder. Is that murder committed in the USA (becasue it was on an aircraft registered in the USA) and you find yourself in a county that doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the USA. Are you off scott free?
An N-reg aircraft, for example, isn’t US territory.
As long as it is airborne it is US territory, theoretically at least (“flag principle” or “flag rule”, see here http://books.google.de/books?id=4JupdN4Y7u4C&pg=PA546&lpg=PA546&dq=flag+rule+aircraft&source=bl&ots=BY6ugeQInU&sig=V8Y7N48QLJX6moeckiCeRQXd0HI&hl=de&sa=X&ei=MBNNU6OvM8Plswbj44CgBA&ved=0CIMBEOgBMAg#v=onepage&q&f=false).
Aircraft have the nationality of the State in which they are registered
Yes, but isn’t that an empty / meaningless position?
The powers to search it are exactly the same. An N-reg aircraft, for example, isn’t US territory.
