Rules, institutions and legal authority for human activity and settlement beyond Earth, including the Moon, Mars and orbital habitats.
In more detail
No permanent off-world settlement exists, so the field is mostly legal analysis and design proposals. The Outer Space Treaty is the operative frame: no sovereignty claims, state responsibility for private actors, and registry-state jurisdiction. Scholars such as those in Cockell's edited volume examine how control of life-support systems and isolation shape liberty and political order in settlements.