Should a nation be held liable for diverting the asteroid Syd-1 off its course when the asteroid then obliterated an entire village in another country‚ killing dozens? This was the dilemma facing a panel of judges of the International Court of Justice at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria on Friday‚ when the legal teams of the United Republic of Adventura (URA) and the Sovereign People's Independent Democratic Republic (SPIDR) argued before it.The mock court proceeding was the final round of the African regional leg of the 2015 Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court competition.The aim was to test law students' knowledge of the international and space law that governs threats posed by Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).Law students from the University of Pretoria‚ representing the fictitious URA‚ argued that the space system that deflected Syd-1 did not cause the damage and that by changing its course‚ the URA mitigated further damage.They said the damage caused was not foreseeable and the country's actions did not contravene international space law.Their rivals from the Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria‚ acting on behalf of SPIDR‚ said the URA was negligent in its actions and by acting unilaterally it was in direct contravention of international law.Advocate Phethole Sekhula‚ leading the panel of three "judges"‚ ruled in favour of SPIDR‚ and ordered that the URA needed to make reparations.And so‚ the Nigerian students triumphed.The judging panel felt that they best demonstrated their understanding of the topic and argument over the two days of the competition.Sekhula said that the Nigerian team showed the most novel approach to the problem and would best represent Africa in the finals at the International Astronautical Congress in Jerusalem‚ Israel‚ in October.This is where the team will compete against winners from the Asia Pacific‚ Europe and North America regions.The tale may have been fictitious‚ but Francois Duvenage‚ legal advisor at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research‚ which organised the event locally‚ along with the South African Council for Space Affairs‚ the South African Space Agency and the Department of Trade and Industry‚ said as more NEOs fill up the earth's orbit space the increasing risk of collisions would call for the application of space law to tackle liability claims. - TMG Courts and Law, RDM News Wire..