From the recorded inception of international civil aviation to date—i.e. the signing
of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention) in 1944
and the start-up of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in April
1947, to the adoption of the various Annexes to the Convention over the past
66 years, the law of air navigation has evolved through the principles of these
instruments and transformed into domestic law within their jurisdictions by member
States of ICAO. Therefore, domestic air navigation law, however founded, has
its origins in the Chicago Convention and its 18 Annexes (at the time of writing, the
latest Annex (Annex 19 on Safety Management Systems was being developed).
These laws, both international and national derive their legitimacy from the
fundamental principle found in Article 1 of the Chicago Convention—that ICAO
member States recognize that each State has complete and exclusive sovereignty
over the air space above its territory. Within this overriding principle of State
sovereignty, this book takes the reader on a journey through the principles of air
navigation law as enunciated by the Chicago Convention, the Annexes to the
Convention and relevant ICAO Assembly resolutions.