ABSTRACT

The CHM concept is a philosophical concept, a legal principle, and in the context of the human genome, a biological concept too. It has been discussed by leading jurists as both a philosophical and legal concept. Four hundred years ago, when Hugo Grotius, the ‘father of international law’, wrote on the concept, he declared that the seas are the CHM, and that everybody should be able to use them.1 This paved the way for the establishment of global trade routes and led to the opening up of cultures and countries to each other. Grotius was thus able to keep the sea lanes in other parts of the world open for ships from his own country. A modern day analogy would be the internet revolution caused by a technology that is openly accessible with the facility to share ideas and develop collaboratively through the formation of a network where the digital lanes are always open.2