ABSTRACT
Civil aviation is an international activity regulated mainly by international treaties. Law sets the minimum standards of behaviour in a society and establishes consequential rights and obligations. The law-making process in a particular society, whether international or domestic, gives force of law to those minimum standards, thus distinguishing the activity concerned from a mere social habit or a theorem of physics. For example, it is a principle of physics that air passing over an aerofoil surface will in certain conditions create the lift essential for aircraft flight. It is necessary to distinguish between international law, sometimes called public international law, and the system of law within a State, referred to as domestic, municipal or national law. It is a rule of law that an aircraft wing must be designed and constructed in accordance with technical specifications if a certificate of airworthiness is to be issued in respect of the aircraft.
