Oceans Commons, Law of the Sea and Rights for the Sea

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to re-activate certain layers of normative meaning that have been obscured, forgotten or rendered inoperative by the predominant traditions that engaged, from Grotius onwards, with the concept of <i>res communes omnium</i>. The hope and the purpose is that of offering a novel perspective on matters such as the protection and preservation of ocean commons that are of great urgency and importance today. Re-activating or ‘remembering’ the full scope of the concept of <i>res communes omnium</i> may produce some effects on the broader discourse of ocean environmental protection. It may, perhaps, help carve novel space for re-imagining the terms of the problems, and the array of available solutions that can be entertained and discussed, having particularly in mind the debates currently ongoing in the context of the negotiations towards a new global treaty on marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.