A collection of curious tales questioning the ownership of airspace and a reconstruction of a truly novel moment in the history of American law, Banner’s book reminds us of the powerful and reciprocal relationship between technological innovation and the law.

Honorable Mention, 2019 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, given by the Society for Humanistic Anthropology Honorable Mention, 2019 Sharon Stephens Prize, given by the American Ethnological Society Examines the role that race played in the inception of the airline industry Empire in the Air is at once a history of aviation, and an examination of how air travel changed lives along the transatlantic corridor of the African diaspora. Focusing on Britain and its Caribbean colonies, Chandra Bhimull reveals how the black West Indies shaped the development of British Airways. Bhimull offers a unique analysis of early airline travel, illuminating the links among empire, aviation and diaspora, and in doing so provides insights into how racially oppressed people experienced air travel. The emergence of artificial flight revolutionized the movement of people and power, and Bhimull makes the connection between airplanes and the other vessels that have helped make and maintain the African diaspora: the slave ships of the Middle Passage, the tracks of the Underground Railroad, and Marcus Garvey’s black-owned ocean liner. As a new technology, airline travel retained the racialist ideas and practices that were embedded in British imperialism, and these ideas shaped every aspect of how commercial aviation developed, from how airline routes were set, to who could travel easily and who could not. The author concludes with a look at airline travel today, suggesting that racism is still enmeshed in the banalities of contemporary flight.

Exploring how modern internationalism emerged as a negotiated process through international conferences, this edited collection studies the spaces and networks through which states, civil society institutions and anti-colonial political networks used these events to realise their visions of the international. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, contributors explore the spatial paradox of two fundamental features of modern internationalism. First, internationalism demanded the overcoming of space, transcending the nation-state in search of the shared interests of humankind. Second, internationalism was geographically contingent on the places in which people came together to conceive and enact their internationalist ideas. From Paris 1919 to Bandung 1955 and beyond, this book explores international conferences as the sites in which different forms of internationalism assumed material and social form. While international 'permanent institutions' such as the League of Nations, UN and Institute of Pacific Relations constantly negotiated national and imperial politics, lesser-resourced political networks also used international conferences to forward their more radical demands. Taken together these conferences radically expand our conception of where and how modern internationalism emerged, and make the case for focusing on internationalism in a contemporary moment when its merits are being called into question.

A riveting portrait of a rural Pennsylvania town at the center of the fracking controversy Shale gas extraction—commonly known as fracking—is often portrayed as an energy revolution that will transform the American economy and geopolitics. But in greater Williamsport, Pennsylvania, fracking is personal. Up to Heaven and Down to Hell is a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking account of what happens when one of the most momentous decisions about the well-being of our communities and our planet—whether or not to extract shale gas and oil from the very land beneath our feet—is largely a private choice that millions of ordinary people make without the public's consent. The United States is the only country in the world where property rights commonly extend "up to heaven and down to hell," which means that landowners have the exclusive right to lease their subsurface mineral estates to petroleum companies. Colin Jerolmack spent eight months living with rural communities outside of Williamsport as they confronted the tension between property rights and the commonwealth. In this deeply intimate book, he reveals how the decision to lease brings financial rewards but can also cause irreparable harm to neighbors, to communal resources like air and water, and even to oneself. Up to Heaven and Down to Hell casts America’s ideas about freedom and property rights in a troubling new light, revealing how your personal choices can undermine your neighbors’ liberty, and how the exercise of individual rights can bring unintended environmental consequences for us all.

This is the third edition of a now-renowned guide that provides an extensive account of the state of the aviation industry and the law that regulates it. This new edition, revised and updated throughout, focuses on environmental and sustainability considerations, and includes a new chapter on innovations aimed towards meeting the 2050 Net Zero Emission targets endorsed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA). International Aviation Law: A Practical Guide explains the international context and application of the law as it applies to commercial and recreational aviation, and to the broader aviation environment. It provides a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of aviation law, from criminal law to contract law, to the legal duties and responsibility of aircrew and other aviation personnel including airport operators, air traffic controllers and aircraft engineers. Each area of the law is clearly explained in accessible language and supported with practical case studies to illustrate the application of the law within an operational aviation context. It also provides advice on how to avoid or minimize legal liability for those working in the aviation industry. The book is written for a very broad readership of those working within the aviation industry, those aspiring to work within it and those within the legal profession dealing with air transportation, as well as students within the same industries. The third edition will additionally find favour with new readers seeking information on environmental issues and answers to the question of how the aviation sector will meet the 2050 emission targets.

Examines how our diverse understandings of property impact real-world governing strategies. Property is a concept that is seemingly simple to understand yet continually evolving in the face of cultural change and technological advance. Property Rights in Contemporary Governance examines the many meanings of property, how they have changed over time, and the roles they play in policy, society, and law. With its deeply interdisciplinary approach, the book offers perspectives from economics, environmental studies, history, law, philosophy, public administration, and public policy. The contributors discuss such topics as the origin of the corporation, the role of the takings law, the development of legal protections for financial instruments in nineteenth-century France, the impact of climate change, the shifts in philosophical conceptions of property required by advances in intellectual property rights, and the influence of new technologies, including drones. This is a comprehensive and thoughtful exploration of how our diverse understandings of property impact real-world governing strategies. “This book is unique in the field of property theory. First, its essays are rooted in the perspectives of many different fields. Second, the areas that it covers and the vast majority of its content are highly original. While the idea that property and governance are intimately connected is not original, the contributions that the book makes to that idea definitely are. It was fascinating and very useful reading.” — Laura S. Underkuffler, author of The Idea of Property: Its Meaning and Power

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Foreword -- List of abbreviations -- 1 Introduction: From civil aviation's origins to the Paris Convention 1919 -- 2 The inter-war predatory bilateral system 1919-1939 -- 3 Wartime planning and the Chicago Conference 1939-1944 -- 4 The Chicago-Bermuda regime: Its operation and the challenge of deregulation 1945-1992 -- 5 Creating the single European aviation market -- 6 Open-skies and a fully globalized world market: Challenge and reality 1992-2016 -- 7 Conclusion: Unfinished business? -- References -- Index.