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Law and Development pp 115–130Cite as

Water: The Common Heritage of Mankind?

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Abstract

Historically, two models of access to water have coexisted: a natural resource, common good to be used free of charge, and a private economic good with an exchange value and thus generating a market. These two models, sometimes concomitant, draw their roots in a remote past. To enable social and economic development, they are present today in various national legal systems. Nowadays, under the supervision of legal authorities, water resources are also often described as being the common heritage of a nation with great freedom to use. Such notion of heritage aims at safeguarding the interests of future generations to water by promoting a sustainable development approach. Meanwhile, originating in the law of the sea, the notion of common heritage of mankind had initially triumphed in relation to outer space natural resources before it being challenged in some domestic legal orders that grant exploitation permits for outer space natural resources in a manner similar to the grant for the exploitation of water resources. For many, this is necessary to ensure the future development of humanity beyond the finite resources of our ‘little’ finite planet.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For some lessons from the past, see: Diamond [1].

  2. 2.

    Sachs [2].

  3. 3.

    See: Smith [3]. Adam Smith referred to water as an example to differentiate use and exchange values. For him, in spite of their essential value to human beings, water resources generate almost no capital because of their abundance. According to him, water is the exact opposite of diamonds, in that the latter have no actual use value yet possessed enormous exchange value. In fact, Adam Smith reasoned like a Scotsman surrounded by a very wet nature. It goes without saying that water is not everywhere so abundant and can, therefore, have an exchange value alongside that of use.

  4. 4.

    Dante Alighieri, Divine comedy, inferno, Canto III, 9 (1307): “Lasciate ogne Speranza, voi ch’intrate”.

  5. 5.

    Some jurists describe private appropriation as ‘strange’ concerning something as indispensable as freshwater. See: Valérie Varnerot, L’étrange pérennité du droit de propriété sur les eaux souterraines. A propos de la décision du TGI (Tribunal de grande instance) d’Angers en date du 12 juillet 2001 [The strange durability of the right of ownership over groundwater. About the decision of the TGI (High Court) of Angers dated July 12, 2001], Revue juridique de l’environnement [RJE], 2002/2, at 135.

  6. 6.

    Water markets already exist in some countries including the United States and Chile.

  7. 7.

    As stated by the French civilist Jean Carbonnier (1908–2003), there must be a possibility of appropriation to lead from a thing to an economic good. See: Carbonnier [4].

  8. 8.

    Examples from the French Civil Code: Code Civil [C. CIV.] art. 714 (Fr.): ‘There are things that belong to no one and whose use is common to all. Police laws regulate the way to enjoy it’, or from the Quebec Civil Code: art. 913 (para. a) (Que.): ‘Some things are not susceptible to appropriation; their use, common to all, is governed by laws of general interest and, in some ways, by the present code’.

  9. 9.

    Aelius Marcianus, Digesta [Dig.] 1.8.2.1. Marcian is a Roman jurist of the late 2nd century-early 3rd century AD. The Digest is a methodical collection of the decisions of the most famous Roman jurisconsults. Its realisation was decided by the Byzantine Roman emperor Justinian (527–565 AD). This anthology of doctrinal opinions had a practical use given that they constituted the material of the law of that time. The Digest, having received official value, could therefore be cited before the judges across the Empire. Nowadays, a collection of doctrinal opinions is less relevant for practical use.

  10. 10.

    Justinian’s Institutes [JI] 2.1.1. Justinian’s Institutes created in 533 AD were used as a manual for jurists in training and were given the authority of law. It is largely based upon the Institutes of Gaius, a Roman jurist of the second century AD.

  11. 11.

    Ulpian, Dig.43.12.1.8. Ulpian (170–224 AD) is a prominent Roman politician and jurist of his time.

  12. 12.

    Ulpian, Dig.43.14.1.6.

  13. 13.

    Ulpian, Dig.39.2.24pr. ‘The use of public rivers is common’; JI.2.1.4: ‘The use of the banks of a river, according to the right of the people, is public, like the use of the river itself’.

  14. 14.

    Gaius’s Institutes [GI], Alia Fragmenta, De Rebus, pr.: ‘Public things are not supposed to have masters, they belong to all’. Gaius was a famous Roman jurist of the 2nd century AD. His works were composed between the years 130 and 180 AD. His writings were recognised as of great authority, and the emperor Theodosius II (408–450 AD) named him as one of the jurists whose opinions were to be followed by judicial officers in deciding cases.

  15. 15.

    JI.2, 3, 2.

  16. 16.

    See: De Boutaric [5, p. 306].

  17. 17.

    See: Coutumes du bailliage de Troyes avec les commentaires de m. Louis le grand [Customs of the bailliage of Troyes with the comments of m. Louis le grand] 314 (Montalant, Paris 4ème édition 1737).

  18. 18.

    See: De Boutaric [6, p. 558–559].

  19. 19.

    See: Loyseau [7].

  20. 20.

    For example, Talmud Bavli Beitza 39 a. The Talmud also indicates: ‘Rivers and streams forming springs, these belong to every man’ (Talmud Bavli Shabbat, 121 b).

  21. 21.

    See: Capitaine Couturier, Coutumiers Juridiques De L'afrique Occidentale Française [Legal Customaries of French West Africa] 205 (Larose Paris 1932), reprinted in Ramazzotti [8, p. 268].

  22. 22.

    Kludze [9], reprinted in Ramazzotti [10, p. 117].

  23. 23.

    Locke [11].

  24. 24.

    Cf., French Environemental Code, Code De L'environnement [C. ENV.] art. L 210-1 (Fr.) according to which, ‘Water is part of the common heritage of the nation’.

  25. 25.

    In the Roman Empire, a rescript is an imperial response having executive force to a question of law from a provincial governor, magistrates or even a private individual.

  26. 26.

    Papyrius Justus, Dig.8.3.17.

  27. 27.

    See: article 206: Pierre Biarnoy De Merville, La Coutume De Normandie Réduite En Maximes Selon Le Sens Littéral, Et L’esprit De Chaque Article [The Custom of Normandy Reduced in Maximes According to the Literal Sense, and the Spirit of Every Article] 236 (Henry Charpentier, Paris 1707).

  28. 28.

    See: Faruqui et al. [12].

  29. 29.

    Ulpian, Dig.8.3.1pr.

  30. 30.

    See an example from the French Civil Code, CODE CIVIL [C. CIV.] article 544 (Fr.): ‘Property is the right to enjoy and dispose of things in the most absolute manner, provided that they are not used as prohibited by law or by the regulations’. Also, Protocol I to the European Convention of Human Rights art. 1: ‘Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general principles of international law’.

  31. 31.

    Hardin [13].

  32. 32.

    Plato, Laws, book VIII, chapter XI.

  33. 33.

    Ulpian, Dig.39.2.24.12 (use of the water of a well leaving to dry that of the neighbour), Dig.10.3.4.1: ‘We ask if we could form an action to share a well between two people? Mela thinks that this action can take place if the soil on which the well is seated is common’. Therefore, a partition is not possible if the well is exclusively located in a property.

  34. 34.

    Ulpian, Dig.43.12.1.3 (private waterways because of non-continuous flows).

  35. 35.

    Pomponius, Dig.8.1.15pr. Sextus Pomponius is a Roman jurist from the middle of the 2nd century AD.

  36. 36.

    Ulpian, Dig.39.3.1.12, Ulpian, Dig.39.2.24.12.

  37. 37.

    Montpellier Municipal Archives, EE 305, August 3, 1247.

  38. 38.

    See: Bourjon [14].

  39. 39.

    See: De Boutaric [15, p. 563].

  40. 40.

    See: De Boutaric [16], p. 564).

  41. 41.

    For the transferable character of such rights, see: Cour d'appel [CA.] [regional court of appeal] Nancy, Oct. 12, 1955. For the independence from the ground, see: Cour d'appel [CA.], Grenoble, March 17, 1992, Juris-Data n° 1992-042253.

  42. 42.

    See: Dante Caponera, Report (N°. 21) To the Government of Libya on Agriculture 198–200 (FAO, N°. 7530 Nov. 1952), reprinted in Ramazzotti [17, p. 154].

  43. 43.

    Ulpian, Dig.8.3.1.1, Dig.43.20.1.16.

  44. 44.

    See respectively: Communal Archives Carpentras, DD 18, f° 7v-11v.; DD 18, f° 12-15v.; DD 17, n° 264 § DD 18 f° 8v-9. About the many adventures of this purchase, see: Valérie Theis, Histoire d’eau. Les conflits sur l’approvisionnement en eau de Carpentras (XIVème – XVème siècles) [Water story. Conflicts over the water supply of Carpentras (14th–15th centuries)], Médiévales [MED.], autumn 2007 (53), at 23.

  45. 45.

    Coutumes du bailliage de Troyes avec les commentaires de m. Louis le grand [Customs of the bailliage of Troyes with the comments of m. Louis le grand] 314 (title X, article 179, I, § 33) (Montalant, Paris 4ème édition 1737)

  46. 46.

    CODE CIVIL [C. CIV.], art. 642, para. 3 (Fr.).

  47. 47.

    See: Dan Tarlock [18].

  48. 48.

    Cf., the theory of ‘Free Market Environmentalism’ which claims that property rights, free markets, and tort law are the best way to preserve the environment, by internalising pollution costs and durability of resources. The University of Montana is at the centre of this school of thought.

  49. 49.

    Indeed the 1981 Water Code specifies that this resource belongs to the State.

  50. 50.

    For Water markets in Chile, See: Petit [19].

  51. 51.

    Jean Lamarque, La loi du 3 janvier 1992 sur l’eau [The law of 3 January 1992 on water], 485, Cahiers juridiques de l’électricité et du gaz [CJEG] 80, 85 (1993).

  52. 52.

    See writings of Paul Samuelson, Nobel Prize laureate in Economics 1970.

  53. 53.

    Code De L'environnement [C. ENV.] art. L. 210-1 (Fr.).

  54. 54.

    C. ENV. art. L. 210-1 (Fr.).

  55. 55.

    C. ENV. art. L. 211-1, para. I (Fr.).

  56. 56.

    C. ENV. art. L. 211-1, para. II (Fr.).

  57. 57.

    C. ENV. art. L. 211-1, para. II (Fr.). This notion of well-balanced management has not been taken up by EU law. On this topic, See: Conseil d’Etat, Rapport Public [20]. The European Union seems to be lagging behind France concerning water priority to people compared to the needs of economic activities.

  58. 58.

    Act affirming the collective character of water resources and aimed at strengthening their protection, adopted on 11 June 2009, assented 12 June 2009, art. 1: ‘Being of vital interest, surface water and groundwater, in their natural environment, are resources that are part of the common heritage of the Quebec nation’. On the basis of article 913 of the Quebec Civil Code, it is asserted that the use of water is common and may not be appropriated.

  59. 59.

    See: Véronique Inserguet-Brisset, Propriété Publique Et Environnement [Public Property and Environment] 256 (LGDJ 1994).

  60. 60.

    A landless poor farmer thus had pasture to feed a few cows and sheep.

  61. 61.

    Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Secunda Secundæ Partis, quæstio 66, especially art. 1 and 2.

  62. 62.

    Aurelle Levasseur, ‘La police de l'eau dans la ville médiévale (XIIIème-XVème S.). Fondements, mise en oeuvre et protection d'un devoir de l'eau’ [The water police in the medieval town (13th–15th centuries). Fundamentals, implementation and protection of a duty of water], in Mergey and Mynard [21].

  63. 63.

    However, the public interest is a flexible notion that allows governments to adapt to societal changes.

  64. 64.

    A conservation easement is an operational legal concept of private law corresponding to a voluntary transfer by a landowner of part of his property rights for environmental reasons. This assignment is usually in favour of some NGO. This service of environmental servitude is particularly present in the United States. It can be a means to protect the interests of future generations.

  65. 65.

    Code De La Santé Publique [CSP], art. L. 1321-2 (Fr.).

  66. 66.

    Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, art. 2. This international treaty, signed on 27 January 1967, came into force on 10 October 1967. As of 15 September 2018, the number of States Parties stood at 106.

  67. 67.

    Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, art. 11, para. 5 (for the international regime), art. 11, para. 7, d (for the equitable sharing by all States Parties). As of 15 September 2018, only 18 states are parties to this treaty (also known as Moon Agreement).

  68. 68.

    The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), art. 141. This international treaty, signed on 10 December 1982, came into force on 16 November 1994. As of 15 September 2018, the number of parties stood at 168 (167 states and the European Union). The USA has not ratified UNCLOS.

  69. 69.

    Besides the moon and the celestial bodies, the spaces concerned by this designation are the deep seabed, defined as the ‘Zone’, circumscribed by the outer extremities of the continental shelves.

  70. 70.

    Sylvie Paquerot, Le Statut Des Ressources Vitales En Droit International: Essai Sur Le Concept De Patrimoine Commun De L’humanité [The Status of Vital Resources in International Law: Essay on the Concept of the Common Heritage of Humanity] 23 (Bruylant, Collection mondialisation et droit international, Bruxelles 2002).

  71. 71.

    Marie Cuq, L’eau En Droit International. Convergences Et Divergences Dans Les Approches Juridiques [Water in International Law. Convergences and Divergences in Legal Approaches] 79 (Larcier, Bruxelles 2013).

  72. 72.

    Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (May 1997, entry into force in August 2014). As of 15 September 2018, only 36 states have ratified it. China or the USA have not done so, as States very rich in water resources (Canada, Russia, Brazil) or which control the upstream sources (Turkey, Israel, Ethiopia).

  73. 73.

    Daillier et al. [22].

  74. 74.

    Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. UNTS 8843. As of 15 September 2018, outer space powers including the United States, Russia, China, France, United Kingdom, India, and Japan were parties to this international convention.

  75. 75.

    See Sara Bruhns § Jacob Haqq-Misra, A Pragmatic Approach to Sovereignty on Mars, Vol. 38 Space Pol'y 57, 57, 59 (November 2016) with regard for the reasons that major developed States have refused to ratify the 1979 Moon Agreement.

  76. 76.

    Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, art. 11, 1.

  77. 77.

    Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, art. 11, 7, 4.

  78. 78.

    Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, art. 11, 3.

  79. 79.

    See Pop [23] with regard to the protection of celestial ownership without state sovereignty.

  80. 80.

    See Butler [24] with regard to the stripping of the most important property rights in international space law.

  81. 81.

    Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean ranging from 74° to 81° north latitude, and from 10° to 35° east longitude. It is about midway between continental Norway and the North Pole.

  82. 82.

    The US Supreme Court cites this doctrine as a basis of property ownership as recently as 2005. See, City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y., 544 U.S. 197, 203 n. 1 (2005).

  83. 83.

    William J. Broad, China Explores a Frontier Two Miles Deep, N. Y. TIMES, September 11, 2010, at A1.

  84. 84.

    Commercial Exploration and Commercial Recovery, 51 U.S.C. § 51302, a, (3) (2017).

  85. 85.

    The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1974 and came into force in 1976. Under it, a State retains jurisdiction over a space object it has registered.

  86. 86.

    See Salter [25] with regard to the argument that the law would result from specific bargains build by commercial entities.

  87. 87.

    See Benson [26] with regard to the spontaneous birth of a lex mercatoria in the Middle Ages protecting property rights.

  88. 88.

    See Milgrom et al. [27] with regard to the merchant law and enforcement system.

  89. 89.

    Couston [28].

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  1. University of Warsaw, Centre of French Civilisation, ul. Dobra 55, 00-312, Warsaw, Poland

    Franck Duhautoy

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  1. Law and Administration, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

    Piotr Szwedo

  2. School of Law, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA, USA

    Richard Peltz-Steele

  3. Graduate School of Law, Kobe University, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan

    Dai Tamada

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Duhautoy, F. (2019). Water: The Common Heritage of Mankind?. In: Szwedo, P., Peltz-Steele, R., Tamada, D. (eds) Law and Development. Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9423-2_7

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