News

Professor Paul Dempsey publishes "Public International Air Law"

Published: 3 October 2008

Professor Paul Stephen Dempsey has published his latest book, Public International Air Law. This treatise addresses the major legal and policy issues confronting the relations between States in international aviation today.

From its inception, aviation has been international in scope: the first flight across the English Channel occurred in 1908, already a century ago.

Two years after that historic flight, international law followed with a conference to draft a treaty was convened, culminating in the Paris Convention of 1919 – the first public international air law convention. The Chicago Convention of 1944 later superseded it, and gave birth to the International Civil Aviation Organization, headquartered in Montreal.

Air law has continued to grow, along with the aviation industry. Today, air transport is governed by an elaborate and wide-ranging collection of international conventions, treaties, and agreements, as well as a highly developed body of domestic laws having some international application.

Public International Air Law is a book that will prove useful not only to the students of law, but also to practicing lawyers, government officials and policymakers, airlines, insurers and the public. It is published by the Institute of Air and Space Law and its research centre.

About Professor Paul Stephen Dempsey

Paul Stephen Dempsey is Tomlinson Professor of Global Governance in Air and Space Law and Director of the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University. He has written over 50 scholarly articles, scores of newspaper and news magazine editorials, and several books.

About the Institute of Air and Space Law

The Institute of Air and Space Law has been teaching Public International Air Law continuously since 1951, keeping pace with its evolution. Professor Dempsey’s work is a compilation of those efforts, addressing the major legal and policy issues confronting the relations between States in international aviation.

With a rich history of education, public service and scholarship, the Institute has hundreds of loyal graduates who today serve in some of the highest legal positions in the bar, the industry, and governmental institutions in some 120 nations around the world.

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