ABSTRACT
Overflight by foreigners did not concern states until the advent of dirigible airships in the 1890s. A 1910 Paris conference came close to agreeing on rules for aviation including routes, airworthiness, registration and identification of equipment, and competence of personnel, but some states, notably the UK, were reluctant to concede a right to overfly. In 1919, another Paris conference recognised that all states have absolute sovereignty over their airspace and adopted most of the other 1910 provisions. Recognising that aviation technology was not static, an International Commission for Air Navigation was set up to keep the international provisions under review. However, as the 1919 treaty was associated with the League of Nations, the US did not join. The treaty was therefore not accepted worldwide, but regional multilateral agreements adopted similar arrangements. In 1944, the Chicago Convention replaced the former agreements and set up the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Its regulatory and rule-making capabilities are exercised mainly through the adoption of standards and recommended practices (SARPs) annexed to the Convention. ICAO has also brokered treaties on civil and criminal law relating to aviation.
