Since 1 September 2001, Prof. Dr. Stephan Hobe, LL.M. (McGill) is the new
Director of the Institute and, at the same time, he has become the Holder of the Chair
for Public International Law, European Law and European and International
Economic Law.
The new Director received his legal education at the universities of Munich,
Freiburg and Göttingen where he passed the first legal state examination 1984. He
spent the legal clerkship at German Courts in the Land Schleswig-Holstein. This legal
stage was interrupted by an internship at the European Space Agency ESA in Paris and legal studies at the Institute of Air and Space Law at the McGill University in
Canada.
In 1988, after having passed the second state examination, he prepared his
doctoral thesis entitled “Die rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen der wirtschaftlichen
Nutzung des Weltraums” (The legal framework for the commercial uses of outer
space) at the Walther-Schücking-Institute for International Law of the University of
Kiel and received, in 1991, the grade of Dr. jur. He then worked for one and a half
year with the then new founded German Agency for Space Affairs (DARA) - in the
beginning in the department for international relations and later as assistant to the
Director General. In 1992, he returned to the Walther-Schücking Institute of
International Law at the University of Kiel for his habilitation. During this time, he
also worked at the Faculty of Law of the University of Rostock (1993/1994). He
habilitated in 1996 at the Faculty of Law of the Christian-Albrechts-University of
Kiel with a thesis entitled “Der offene Verfassungsstaat zwischen Souveränität und
Interdependenz” (The Open Constitutional State between Sovereignty and
Interdependence).
In the winter term 1997/1998, Hobe was appointed Professor for German Public
Law, Public International Law and European Law at the University of Cologne and,
in 1998, a Jean-Monnet-Professorship for the Law of European Integration. On 1
June 2000, he became a member of the Board of Directors of the “Rechtszentrum für
europäische und internationale Zusammenarbeit” (Law Centre for European and
International Cooperation) and there, he is the responsible Director for the
department “European Law and International Law”.
One main field of interest of the new Director of the Institute is public
international law in general which is underlined by the new edition of the text book
“Einführung in das Völkerrecht” (Introduction to International Law) which was
founded and edited by Otto Kimmenich until the 6th edition of 1997 and is continued
by Hobe with the 7th edition published in 2000. Here, international economic law
plays a particular role. On the other hand, Hobe’s special attention to this field of law
is also underlined by his first lecture at the Faculty of Law of Cologne University in
1998 with the title “Die Zukunft des Völkerrechts im Zeitalter der Globalisierung”
(The future of public international law in the era of globalisation).
Another focus of his work is European law, on the one hand demonstrated by
the establishment of the Jean-Monnet-Professorship and on the other hand by the
establishment together with the Chair for Political Sciences of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang
Wessels of an interdisciplinary project on the European doctrine (Proteus). This
project is supported by the federal state Northrhine-Westfalia.
The main focus of the future work of the Institute under his new Director will be
based on the expertise achieved through “Project 2001”. This project will be
continued in cooperation with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) under the new
title “Legal Space Affairs 2001 Plus”. It is planned to review several legal questions on
air and space law in view of a perspective of europeanisation and globalisation. Inter
alia, problems will be treated concerning national space legislation, the perspective of
a European space strategy and its legal framework, the question of a legal framework
for space activities of private entities, e.g.. a perspective of harmonising the European
and international codex of aid, legal questions of the use of the International Space
Station, legal questions of the global satellite navigation system Galileo, legal
questions on the protection of intellectual property rights and questions of safety in
aviation after the incidents in New York and Washington in the fall of 2001. The
University of Cologne is supporting these research efforts.
The new Director of the Institute will also act as editor of the “Zeitschrift für
Luft- und Weltraumrecht , ZLW (German Journal of Air and Space Law) and of the
Series of Air and Space Law that was founded by his predecessor.
Like his predecessor, the new Director of the Institute is a member of several
scientific organisations in the field of air and space law. He is, e.g., member of the
International Institute of Space Law, member of the Board of the European Centre
for Space Law, member of the ICC Air Transport Commission and the ICC
Working Group Air Law and has become, in 2001, Rapporteur of the Space Law
Committee of the International Law Association (ILA). Moreover, he will chair the
yearly sessions of the air and space law committees of the German Branch of the
International Law Association and the German Society for Air and Space Law.