RFC has touched lightly on this in Twelve Hour Limit and in hints in the books.tlb wrote:cthia wrote:I've always wondered about the degree of freedom civilians have in space. Private citizens can operate a lavish yacht or speedboat on the ocean. Honor has an expensive sloop on Sphinx, and a yacht that she can operate in space for fun. There's no telling what kind of personal vehicle either of the Hauptmans own. But how much freedom does anyone actually have in space? Would they be able to look for treasures just as they would on the ocean? In High School, there was a classmate who was addicted to metal detectors. Instead of enjoying the girls on the beach, he would search for lost metals endlessly. He found quite a bit of lost jewelry. Would a private rig be allowed to seek out overlooked debris? A private vehicle that is one huge metal detector? I'm surprised these vehicles don't follow the heat like modern ambulance chasers. LOL
We know that there are ownership claims on many things in space: in the Manticore system there are asteroid belts that are crown "lands", the Twins wormholes are in a system whose possession is a matter of legal dispute. I have no idea how someone asserts ownership; but am certain that if ownership is asserted, then no one else can grab a piece for themselves without permission.
As to your classmate with the metal detector, there is property law derived from English common law that states "A finder of property acquires no rights in mislaid property, is entitled to possession of lost property against everyone except the true owner, and is entitled to keep abandoned property". This can sometimes result in "theft by taking".
There's a "12-minute limit" around inhabited systems; a bubble extended 12 light minutes beyond the star's hyper limit. There is no right of free passage within that and all ships are required to identify themselves to the system, " subject to inspection, traffic laws, commercial law, taxes, etc." and can be denied entry/passage. While not stated in the post I believe that the system also has automatic sovereignty over its resources; regardless of policing power.[1]
Then there's a wider exclusive economic zone, the "12 hour limit" as 12 light-hour diameter bubble around their star where the system "claims sovereignty: any natural resources, habitats, wormholes, etc." as long as they have "a tangible, genuine police power" (aka can patrol it with force). But anybody had a right to free passage in this outer zone -- though quite why someone would bother to drop out of hyper and wander around there (except for military reconnaissance) eludes me.
So, assuming police power, claims or ownership of resources in either 12 minute or 12 hour zone would be entirely subject to the local system laws. Some systems may allow private prospecting (at least by their citizens) of at least of certain types resources; While in others possibly none is permitted.
And anything outside the 6 light hour radius is in international space and presumably free to claim - baring some preexisting claim through means other than simple system proximity. (That does mean the outer rim of Sol's Kuiper belt is beyond that outer 12 hour bubble)
For uninhabited systems there is still some ability to claim them; hence Mannerheim seeking to get clear title to the Felix system from all the various pre-existing claim-holders. But it's not clear exactly how that works or what their rights are. I wouldn't be surprised if a fair number of those rights were tied to ability to practically police the system. But clearly at least that isn't entirely the case de jure otherwise Mannerheim could have unimpeachable claim to Felix simply by permanently stationing forces in the empty system. So there's some mechanism to stake a durable claim even without a persistent presence or ability to defend it by force.
Still I believe it was private companies that stakes the claims there, not other governments. So that does show that if you're willing to go out and treasure hunt in empty systems you can find and claim treasures (or the system itself) though you may not have the means to make doing so pay back economically.
[1] Though as a practical matter, without a friendly third party willing to act upon a complaint of violation of the law a system without any patrol force isn't going to be able to do much about violations of their sovereignty.