Bin Cheng (; 1921 – 16 October 2019) was a Chinese-born British legal scholar. An authority on international air and

space law Space law is the body of law governing space-related activities, encompassing both international and domestic agreements, rules, and principles. Parameters of space law include space exploration, liability for damage, weapons use, rescue efforts ...

, he served as professor and dean of the

University College London Faculty of Laws The UCL Faculty of Laws is the law school of University College London (UCL), a member institution of the federal University of London. It is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties and is based in London, United Kingdom. With a history dating ...

and honorary president of the London Institute of Space Policy and Law. He was a fellow of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...

and an honorary fellow at UCL. He was named an ''officier'' of the

Ordre des Palmes Academiques A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to f ...

by the French government and awarded the

Santos-Dumont Merit Medal The Santos-Dumont Merit Medal is a Brazilian decoration created to honor civilians and military, Brazilian or foreign, for outstanding services rendered to the Brazilian Air Force The Brazilian Air Force (, FAB) is the air branch of the Brazili ...

by the Brazilian government.

Life and career

Bin Cheng was born in 1921 in the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, with his

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

Zhongshan Zhongshan ( zh, c=中山 ), alternately romanized via Cantonese as Chungshan, is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is n ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. He was the son of

Cheng Tien-hsi Cheng Tien-hsi (; 10 July 1884 – 31 January 1970) was a Chinese author, jurist, and the last ambassador of the Republic of China to the United Kingdom. His courtesy name was "Futting" (茀定), so he was commonly known as F. T. Cheng. Early l ...

(F. T. Cheng), a jurist and diplomat who served as a judge of the

Permanent Court of International Justice The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, existed from 1922 to 1946. It was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1920 (although the idea of an international court was several cent ...

and as the last ambassador of the Republic of China to the United Kingdom from 1946 to 1950. Cheng earned a ''Licence-en-droit'' degree from the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

in Switzerland in 1944. He obtained a Ph.D. in law in 1950 and an

LL.D. A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

in 1966, both from

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

(UCL). Cheng was professor of Air and Space Law at UCL from 1967 to 1986, and was emeritus professor afterwards. From 1971 to 1973, he served as dean of the

UCL Faculty of Laws The UCL Faculty of Laws is the law school of University College London (UCL), a member institution of the federal University of London. It is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties and is based in London, United Kingdom. With a history dating ...

. In 2008, he was named honorary president of the London Institute of Space Policy and Law (ISPL).

Contributions

An authority on international air and space law, Cheng has been described as the "Father of International Air Law". During the height of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

in the 1960s, Cheng investigated the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

's resolutions 1721 A (December 1961) and 1962 (December 1963) regarding legal principles governing the outer space. He invented the theory of instant customary international law, which states that ''

opinio juris Opinio juris may refer to: * Sources of international law#Opinio juris *''Opinio juris sive necessitatis ''Opinio juris sive necessitatis'' ("an opinion of law or necessity") also simply ''opinio juris'' ("an opinion of law") is the belief that an ...

'' is the only necessary element for the creation of a new

customary international law Customary international law consists of international legal obligations arising from established or usual international practices, which are less formal customary expectations of behavior often unwritten as opposed to formal written treaties or c ...

, which may be created "over night" as long as ''opinio juris'' about its existence is not rejected by member states of the international community. This theory has gained support over time. According to the ISPL, Cheng's 1953 book, ''General Principles of Law as Applied by International Courts and Tribunals'', is considered the most important treatment of the subject. He also published the books ''The Law of International Air Transport'' (1962) and ''Studies in International Space Law'' (1997). The latter reprints his pioneering articles on international air and space law. In 2017, Cheng donated his collection of more than 3,000 books and legal documents to Northwest University of Politics and Law (NWUPL) in

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

, China, and NWUPL established the Bin Cheng Air and Space Law Library and the Cheng Tien-Hsi International Law Library in the memory of Cheng and his father.

Honours

* Honorary LLD,

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...

(1978) * Fellow,

* Honorary Fellow, University College London * Officier,

, Government of France (1988) *

, Government of Brazil (1989) * Lifetime Achievement Book Award,

International Astronautical Federation The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is an international space advocacy organization based in Paris, and founded in 1951 as a non-governmental organization to establish a dialogue between scientists around the world and to lay t ...

(1997) * Honorary President, London Institute of Space Policy and Law (2008) * Lifetime Achievement Award, European Air Law Association (2010)

Personal life

Cheng was married to Katherine ( zh, s=傅锦培, p=Fu Jinpei), the eldest daughter of Foo Ping-sheung, who served as ambassador of the Republic of China to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The couple had a son and a daughter. Cheng died on 16 October 2019 in London, aged 98.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Bin 1921 births 2019 deaths British legal scholars Chinese legal scholars Chinese emigrants to the United Kingdom Writers from Zhongshan University of Geneva alumni Alumni of University College London Academics of University College London Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Officiers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Alumni of the UCL Faculty of Laws