Janusz Symonides (1987), ‘The Legal Status of Islands in the New Law of the Sea’, Revue de Droit International de Sciences Diplomatiques, Politiques et Sociales, Geneva, 65, pp. 161-80.

The common heritage of mankind is a newly formulated concept: it has only existed in its present form since the end of the 1960s. The concept of the common heritage of mankind is thus much more than the res communis omnium. The idea which underlies it is that certain interests of all mankind should be safeguarded by special legal regimes. The man in the street would be sceptical about whether the foundation of the common heritage of mankind concept, the common interest of mankind. Traditional international law was essentially an inter-state law system ruling the relationships between states. The Law of the Sea Convention presented the most detailed version of the concept of the common heritage of mankind to date. One might conclude from these responses that the concept of the common heritage of mankind is nor really accepted by the states most concerned.