On December 12, the 18th CASC Cup Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition of China Institute of Space Law came to a successful conclusion online. After two days of preliminary and final rounds, China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) won the national championship and other seven awards.
The Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition (MLSLMCC), founded by the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) in 1992, is world-class and held once a year. The competition is one of the three highest-level moot court competitions in the world, as its finals are held in the presence of three sitting judges of the International Court of Justice. With the support of the relevant state departments and universities, China Institute of Space Law has been organizing students from domestic universities to participate in the national tryout for the Space Law Moot Court Competition since 2003. The Space Law Moot Court Competitions have been successfully held 18 times. As a strong competitor in the competition, the team of CUPL has won many awards including the championship and runner-up in the previous competitions, and has been the national champion for nine consecutive years. This time, CUPL regained the first prize after two years.
The topic of the CASC Cup MLSLMCC this year，registration and damage of objects made in outer space, was novel, forward-looking and attractive, involving various areas such as 3D printing, artificial intelligence, artificial satellite arrays, and space assets. The competition was unprecedentedly keen, with 30 teams from 21 well-known universities, including Peking University, Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Wuhan University, and Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.
Li Juqian and Tang Ya served as the coaches for the CUPL team in the competition. Members of the first team were made up of three junior students, Cheng Yupeng from the Civil, Commercial and Economic Law School, Ma Xinyu from the School of Criminal Justice, and Chen Xiaorong, from the School of Foreign Studies. Members of the second team were also made up of three junior students, Ruan Haoyang and Wu Yating from the School of International Law, and Shi Siyuan, from the Civil, Commercial and Economic Law School, CUPL. Former team members Zhang Yuqiao, Wu Yulu, Sun Weining, Du Yijia, Hu Xinyuan, and Yang Huiming served as coach assistants.
The final teams were decided by the results of preliminary oral arguments and written documents. After fierce rounds of competition, the second team of CUPL entered the final with the first place in total score. In the final, our team successfully defeated the team from Peking University and won the National Championship (National First Prize) and the Best Memorials Award (as an applicant). Ruan Haoyang and Shi Siyuan were awarded as Best Oralist and Excellent Oralist respectively. Besides, the first team of CUPL won the National Runner-Up Prize and the Best Memorials Award (as a respondent). Li Jiuqian and Tang Ya were awarded as Best Coaches and Best Memorials Coach respectively.
