Common Heritage, Common Heritage of Mankind, common heritage of mankind as per unclos, common interest, Is outer space proper the common heritage of mankind?, scientific knowledge is the common heritage of mankind, the concept of the common heritage of mankind, the doctrine of common heritage of mankind, UNCLOS – Part XI, What is the meaning of the common heritage of humankind regarding the deep sea resources?, Which of these is common heritage of mankind?
professor Tanaka said, The third principle of the law of the sea is the common heritage of mankind. This principle is enshrined in Part XI of the LOSC. As will be seen in Chapter 5, the principle of the common heritage of mankind emerged as an antithesis to the principles of sovereignty and freedom.
This principle is distinct from the traditional principles in two respects.
First, while the principles of sovereignty and freedom aim to safeguard the interests of individual States, the principle of the common heritage of mankind seeks to promote the common interest of mankind as a whole. It may be argued that the term ‘mankind’ is a transspatial and transtemporal concept. It is transspatial because ‘mankind’ includes all people on the planet. It is transtemporal because ‘mankind’ includes both present and future generations. It would seem to follow that the common interest of mankind means the interest of all people in present and future generations.
Second, the principle of the common heritage of mankind focuses on ‘mankind’ as a novel actor in the law of the sea. ‘Mankind’ is not a merely abstract concept. As we shall see in Chapter 5, under the LOSC ‘mankind’ has an operational organ, i.e. the International Seabed Authority, acting on behalf of mankind as a whole. To this extent, it can reasonably be argued that mankind is emerging as a new actor in the law of the sea. In this sense, the principle of the common heritage of mankind introduces a new perspective, which is beyond the State-to-State system, in the law of the sea.
In 1970, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2749, the Declaration of Principles Governing the Seabed and Ocean Floor, was adopted by 108 nation states and stated that the deep seabed should be preserved for peaceful purposes and is the “Common Heritage of Mankind.”
source: The International Law of the Sea, Yoshifumi Tanaka
Nandakumar S. Common Heritage of Mankind – Property Rights, in the Wake of Commercial Use of the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. In: Proceedings of the Forty-Eighth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space. Reston: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. 2005. p. 308-317.