[dark_lord]

Lets just put it this way. The first group to land some folks on the moon and actually establish a continuous presence will light a big ton of dynamite under space efforts. Reason is the first folks to establish continuous presence can claim they "own" stuff. And the governments of Earth will at that point suddenly become very, very interested. The bottom line is once there are colonists there, the claim that they "own" it becomes very strong.

[anymouse]

You might want to check out the Archimedes Institute for details on an effort to reduce the legal uncertainties associated with a wide variety of space activities. It's run by law professor, Lawrence Roberts .