Paris Convention of 1919

The Paris Convention of 1919 (formally, the Convention Relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation) was the first international convention to address the political difficulties and intricacies involved in international aerial navigation. The convention was concluded under the auspices of the International Commission for Air Navigation (forerunner to ICAO). It attempted to reduce the confusing patchwork of ideologies and regulations which differed by country by defining certain guiding principles and provisions, and was signed in Paris on October 13, 1919.

The first passenger-carrying airline flight happened in 1913 with the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line. Before that time, aircraft had been used to carry mail and other cargo. With the start of World War I in 1914, aircraft were being operated internationally to carry not only cargo, but also as military assets. The international use of aircraft brought up questions about air sovereignty. The arguments over air sovereignty at the time factored into one of two main viewpoints: either no state had a right to claim sovereignty over the airspace overlying its territory, or every state had the right to do so.

The Paris Convention of 1919 sought to determine this question as part of the process of framing the convention's assumptions, and it was decided that each nation has absolute sovereignty over the airspace overlying its territories and waters.

The nations that signed the treaty were: Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, the British Empire, China, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, the Hedjaz, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Siam, Czechoslovakia, and Uruguay. Ultimately, the convention was ratified by 11 states, including Persia, which had not signed it. The United States never ratified it because of its linkage to the League of Nations. The treaty came into force in 1922.

The Paris Convention was superseded by the Convention on International Civil Aviation (aka the Chicago Convention).

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