CYIL 2014

476

MAHULENA HOFMANN

CYIL 5 ȍ2014Ȏ

International Council of Environmental Law, the American Institute of Aeronautics

and Astronautics and many other national and international bodies.

Notwithstanding his main interest in the law of outer space, Professor Kopal

also participated in the codification of the law of the sea in the framework of the

United Nations. In this field, he concentrated mostly on the regime of the deep sea,

as a space – similar to

outer space – not subordinated to

any State sovereignty. This

area was the subject of his qualification thesis for obtaining the academic title DrSc.

(

Doctor Scientiarum

) – “Problems of the New Codification of the Law of Sea with

Regard to the Interests of Land-Locked States”, which appeared in the publishing

house Academia in 1983.

However, the publications of Vladimír Kopal started from studies devoted to

the general questions of public international law: In 1957, he published a study

“The Question of Revision of the UN Charter”, which received a prize of the

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Later followed the publication “The Question

of UN Armed Forces”. In the 1980s he published in Czech and in Russian the book

“International Law in the Service of Peace and of Cooperation of States”, followed by

the already mentioned study on the issues of the law of the sea. With his long-time

Dutch

colleague, Isabella Diederiks-Verschoor, he wrote a favorite, “An introduction

to Space Law”, which was published in 2008 by Kluwer.

Definite structures, strict logic and a clear overview also characterized his pedagogical

activities: He lectured in international law at Charles University in Prague and at

the Western Bohemian University in Pilsen. His legal positivism was an excellent

instrument for analyzing the

lex lata

and served as an important corrective for those

who saw or still see in space law a part of mere science fiction – despite the existence of

satellite navigation and direct TV broadcasting and their legal frameworks.

Vladimír Kopal was highly respected at home and was indispensable abroad. He

tried to help others and had a close circle of long-time and reliable friends. He was

ironical but also self-ironical. He loved classical music and played piano excellently.

He was not scared of problems and mastered with grace the troubles of everyday life.

Vladimír Kopal passed away on 27 January 2014, aged 85, shortly after the death of

his beloved wife and best friend Vlasta, whom he missed immensely. He combatted

his sorrow with work and planned further research publications, including the second

edition of his and Diederiks’ “Introduction to Space Law”.

Is it then

symptomatic that the last significant research publication of Vladimír

Kopal was devoted to the heritage of one of the important “pioneers” of the law of

outer space, Vladimír Mandl. Kopal concluded this study with the following words:

“It must be regretted that, due to his premature passing away, Vladimír Mandl could

not witness and comment on the accomplishment of the first space flights, the landing

on the Moon, the establishment of the first space stations and the development of the

international cooperation in space activities…” Similarly, it must be regretted that

Vladimír Kopal will not witness the presence of a human being on the Mars or the