Chapter 2 Raymond Speciale’s Fundamentals of Aviation law discusses the historical evolution of the US Constitution and how this document that came way before the airplane was invented has come to have such a significant influence on the US aviation industry. It shows the challenge of establishing a federal g that faced the US after gaining independence. The US Congress commenced by adopting the Articles of Confederation, but these were later found to be inadequate to fully govern all the states. This then led to the Constitutional Convention convened in 1787 in Philadelphia and yielded the current US constitution in 1788 after much intense debate and discussion among delegates.
The US constitution governs the relationship between the state and federal governments and also how the various arms of government function through a system of checks and balances. While the legislature creates laws, the executive appoints federal judges and vetoes laws. Moreover, while individual states have constitutional documents too based on or derived largely from the main federal Constitution, all of the state laws and Constitutional provisions must conform to the federal Constitution. Any state law inconsistent with the federal Constitution is void to the extent of that inconsistency. This ensures that aviation laws are uniform and that the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals enshrined in the federal constitution are upheld and protected.
The Constitutional laws and provisions affect flying or aviation in the US by regulating commerce through the commerce clause under Article section of the Constitution. Further, through its due process provisions under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, the US Constitution protects businesses and individuals from invasion of their rights without due process of law (Speciale 50). Whereas the Federal government through the Congress is tasked with the power to declare war, coin money, collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and borrow money, the US Constituting reserves the “authority to regulate health, safety, morality and general welfare of their citizens” (Speciale 42). These state powers of regulating safety and health are important if the aviation industry is to properly function and also to ensure the safety of citizens who use commercial and infidel fly jets or planes.
Works Cited
Speciale, Raymond C. Fundamentals of aviation law. New York: Mc Graw-Hill, 2011. Print.
